YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The locally produced Russian Sputnik Light vaccine will soon be rolled out in Armenia and it will be used as a booster shot against COVID-19, the Armenian authorities announced after touring the Liqvor Pharmaceuticals.

“I am very happy that pharmaceutical production is making one more big step forward, and is utilizing its potential,” Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan said.

Just like in case of other vaccines, the government will buy this vaccine also and citizens will receive it for free. Very soon, in the nearest timeframes the government will carry out the procurement processes and it will be distributed to polyclinics. “And our citizens will be able to apply and receive Sputnik Light as a booster shot.”

The Sputnik Light is compatible with other COVID-19 vaccines and is a universal single-shot booster. 

Liqvor CEO Sergey Matevosyan said he is very happy for realizing the vaccine production in cooperation with the ministries and the Russian Direct Investment Fund. “We are cooperating with the Russian side. In accordance to our contract a transfer of technologies took place with the Russian side, that is the transfer of production technologies, and our company reproduced the vaccine, our company made the investments. This is an important success both for our company and the country,” he said.

Liqvor is processing the substrate received from the Russian production, which then passes a technological process, followed by the primary and secondary packaging and refrigerated storage.

The Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said they’ve considered also export opportunities. There are no export contracts yet but discussions are taking place with a number of countries. “Negotiations are proceeding with several countries of the Middle East, and the option of exporting to several African countries is also under discussion. We are sure that this all will be realized soon through joint work with our Russian colleagues,” Kerobyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan