Portugal sends 400 thousand Covid-19 vaccines to Armenia

Portugal will be delivering more over 400 thousand Pfizer Covid-19 shots to Armenia under the European Union’s Eastern Partnership. The first batch with approximately 200 thousand shots has been received in Yerevan.

The Armenian Government indicated that the 400 140 vaccines are the first batch to arrive in the country under the new scheme funded by the EU, to the sum of around 35 million euros. A second batch is expected for next month.

This donation is part of the cooperation agreement between the European Union and several neighbouring Eastern countries (Eastern Partnership), which allowed for the creation of a sharing vaccinations programme in 2021, which Portugal joined. The programme is funded by the EU and coordinated by Poland.

The Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, said that Portugal has taken on "from the start the commitment to support the international vaccination process as part of the global endeavours to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic".

Until the end of February, more than 15 million doses have been given to Eastern Partnership countries via the EU vaccine sharing mechanism and COVAX, led by the World Health Organisation and to which several international partners belong.