On June 26, 2021, the Metropolis of Kishinev-Moldova supplied 1000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to replenish the stocks of the Vaccination Marathon conducted in the Palace of the Republic in Kishinev. As was recently reported, 2 thousand doses of the Sputnik V vaccine were delivered to Moldova with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia with the help of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The vaccine has been distributed through the Orthodox Church of Moldova.

Secretary of the Metropolis of Moldova Archpriest Vadim Keibash, who accompanied the supply for the Marathon, said, “I have thus conveyed the blessing of His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kishinev and All Moldova, to the faithful, who wish to be vaccinated, in observance of the principles and values of the Orthodox Church, namely, love of neighbour and God. By inoculating and immunizing ourselves we show our love and care of our kin”.

A high assessment to this humanitarian action was given in his Facebook home page by the mayor of Moldova’s capital city, Ion Cheban: “In the morning, there were 3 thousand Sputnik V doses available in the center. Since people’s demand for this vaccine is very high, I turned to the Metropolis of Moldova for help because I knew about a supply of Sputnik V vaccine brought to Moldova as a humanitarian aid from the Moscow Patriarchate”, he said, “the leaders of the metropolis expressed readiness to provide us with one more thousand doses. All who are standing now in line will be vaccinated”.

According to the available data, for the last seven days the number of inoculations with the first dose of the vaccine in the Republic of Moldova has doubled as compared with the previous week, with vaccination coverage reaching 12,7% of the country’s population.

As the website of the Metropolis of Kishinev-Moldova has reported, the Moldovan Ministry of Healthcare, Labour and Social Protection thanked the Orthodox Church of Moldova for its support and solidarity in vaccinating the population of the country against the coronavirus. (Quelle: www.patriarchia.ru, 3. Juli 2021)