President Lukashenko Sees No Need For Belarus To Import Western COVID-19 Vaccines

President Lukashenko Sees No Need for Belarus to Import Western COVID-19 Vaccines

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2021) President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he sees no reason to import Western vaccines against COVID-19, expressing his belief that the Chinese and Russian vaccines currently used in the country are better.

During his visit to the Lida Central District Hospital in western Belarus, Lukashenko said, as quoted by Belta news agency, that the Russian and Chinese vaccines against COVID-19 have proved to be much better than their Western counterparts, and since Belarus has already started producing a vaccine with the help of Russian technology, there is no sense in importing Western vaccines.

Vaccination in Belarus is achieved by the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik V and Sputnik Light. According to the previously announced schedule, Belarusian specialists are to receive a preliminary batch of the Belarusian-developed vaccine at the end of this year, and the first industrial batch in 2022.

In October, Minister of Health of Belarus Dmitry Pinevich did not rule out expanding the list of vaccines against COVID-19 used in the country, but noted that existing supply was sufficient to meet demand. Prior to that, the minister said that Belarus was not excluding the possibility of purchasing the Pfizer vaccine, adding that negotiations were underway, but the final decision would depend on the number of people wishing to be vaccinated with the drug.

More than 2.698 million of Belarus' population of 9 million have already received the first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 2.02 million have been fully vaccinated, according to the ministry of health.