Minister: Pneumonia cases keep declining in Belarus

“The downward trend started to take shape before the holidays and it is gaining momentum now. We are glad to see a rather steady decline in the number of pneumonia cases. However, this trend might slightly change in early or mid February, because this is the time for seasonal infections, like influenza and the like. However, the rise in seasonal diseases is not expected to be particularly strong, since more than 40% of the population was timely vaccinated against influenza. There was no need to persuade people to get a vaccine – they did it willingly. Those who did not have contraindications for vaccination and fit our criteria were vaccinated,” the minister said.

Speaking about the coronavirus vaccination campaign, the minister noted that a contract for 170,000 Sputnik V vaccines had been signed. “This is the first batch of vaccines and we received it already. It was divided into several small batches. Some 20,000 vaccines arrived by the New Year, their safety and quality were checked. Now we continue vaccinating healthcare workers. We expect the next batch to arrive in the near future. Teachers will be next in line for a COVID-19 vaccine. In the first quarter of this year, we are set to release the Sputnik V vaccine under the Belarusian brand, together with Russian colleagues at the Belarus-based Belmedpreparaty pharmaceutical company,” he explained.

When asked when all other people will be able to get a vaccine, Dmitry Pinevich replied: “I think it will be possible somewhere in April: when we finish vaccinating vulnerable and supervised population groups (healthcare workers, teachers, transport, trade and media workers), we will start vaccinating other groups,” he said.