Statement of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov on the start of vaccination of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs against COVID-19
Today we started vaccination of employees of the system of organs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from COVID-19. We are the first to vaccinate the workers who are most in contact with the population: the garrisons of the airports of Boryspil and Zhuliany, units of the NGU in the area of the PLO, public security workers, units of the patrol police. Next, we vaccinate all employees of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: the National Police, the State Emergency Service, the National Guard, the Border Guard, Service centers, higher educational institutions, the Expert Service, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The next step is that the doctors of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will also vaccinate the families of our workers. In total, we plan to cover about 800 thousand people with families.
This is an exclusively voluntary affair. But I am sure that this is a necessary measure for those who are at risk, fulfilling their professional duties.
During its existence, humanity has suffered 17 terrible pandemics that have claimed the lives of more than 340 million people. And only thanks to the invention of vaccination was it possible to stop the most terrible diseases. Vaccination helped rid humanity of diseases such as smallpox and plague, and almost eradicated polio.
According to the World Health Organization, vaccinations each year help prevent 2 to 3 million deaths from diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis, measles or tetanus.
Vaccination is “military training”: it prepares the immune system so that when faced with a real threat, the human body can respond adequately. The vaccine contains a small dose of the pathogen, due to which antibodies are formed that protect against a severe course of the disease.
Vaccination of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be carried out with the drug CoronaVac, developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, and Comirnaty manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech.
So, no vaccine gives a 100% guarantee that a person will not get sick. But more than a century of experience in using vaccines has shown that those who are vaccinated are guaranteed to carry the disease in a milder form.
The sooner we establish joint immunity, the sooner we will return to normal life without fear for our health and the health of our loved ones.
I will definitely vaccinate. So I urge all employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be vaccinated against COVID-19, because this is the only way to overcome the pandemic!
