Ukraine to Receive Coronavirus Vaccine in Two Weeks

The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines under the global COVAX Facility will arrive in Ukraine in two weeks. Ukraine will receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Deputy Minister of Health for European Integration Ihor Ivashchenko said.

“Ukraine will start vaccination in February. So, it will receive vaccines in two weeks. Our country was included in the list of countries to which the global COVAX Facility will provide COVID-19 vaccines within the first wave of distribution,” Ivashchenko said.

He also said that Ukraine would submit an additional request to the COVAX Facility to increase the number of Pfizer vaccine doses. Ukrainian authorities expect to receive the vaccine in the second quarter of 2021. In addition, Ukraine is currently working on a mechanism for obtaining the vaccine as part of the redistribution of orders made by the European Union.

Meanwhile, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Axios, which was broadcast on the HBO platforms, that our country is not an equal member of the European Union or the world in terms of vaccination dates.

Speaking about the delay in vaccination in Ukraine, Zelensky said that “there are several emotions about the global vaccination campaign.”

“We are not among the priority countries of the world that receive vaccines like everyone else. I spoke with the leaders of the EU countries, with which we have excellent relations, and they said they would help us. Little by little, using their vaccine supplies. I understand that it will be difficult to explain it to their people. But they will give us a little bit somehow. It is very unpleasant to feel that you are begging with an outstretched hand,” the Head of State said.

As a reminder, recently Ukrainian and Russian media outlets reported on plans to deliver the so-called Russian coronavirus vaccine called Sputnik V to the territory of the occupied Donbas.

Representatives of the occupation authorities said that the vaccine, which has not yet passed the third phase of clinical trials, is planned to be used in February to vaccinate people at risk.

At the same time, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is responsible for the distribution of Sputnik V, denied information about possible supplies to the Russian-occupied Donbas.

Bohdan Marusyak