Ukraine in February, as part of the COVAX (Global Fund for Access to Coronavirus Vaccine) initiative, may receive a drug for COVID-19. On Thursday, January 14, the Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor of the country Viktor Lyashko told the Ukrainian newspaper “Left Bank”.
“On January 6, Ukraine received a letter from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) with a request to confirm that the state can accept an mRNA vaccine, since COVAX is ready to deliver 100 thousand doses to us in the near future,” he said.
According to Lyashko, on January 8, the Ukrainian authorities sent confirmation of their readiness to accept such a vaccine, noting that such a drug could be developed by Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna. At the same time, the chief medical officer suggested that there would still be the first option, since COVAX works only with those vaccines that have received permission from WHO for emergency use.
The Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine said that the first stage of vaccination will begin in February, for which 375 mobile teams will be created. He added that currently work is underway with the National Health Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Finance to pay for each injection of the drug.
“We know the previous tariff, we know how each vaccinated person will be taken into account in the electronic health care system, what will be the payment after that, what additional motivation for the team,” Lyashko assured.
On December 30, the country’s Minister of Health Maxim Stepanov said that the Kiev authorities expect to receive the first batch of the Chinese vaccine against coronavirus infection in February. The conclusion of a contract with the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech for the supply of the drug to Ukraine became known earlier on the same day.
At the same time, politicians and public figures have repeatedly called on Kiev to purchase a Russian drug for coronavirus, as it has shown high efficiency and safety.
On December 18, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal said that Kiev is negotiating with all the world’s COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, except for Russian ones. The Prime Minister added that the first batch of 8 million doses of vaccine for 4 million Ukrainians is expected in March 2021 as part of the international COVAX initiative. The priority vaccination program provides for coverage of half of the country’s population – almost 21 million people.
The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, began at the end of December 2019. The Chinese city of Wuhan became the hotbed of infection. For several months, the disease has spread to more than 210 countries of the world. On March 11, WHO declared a coronavirus pandemic.
According to Worldometer data, as of January 14, over 92.9 million cases of COVID-19 were registered on the planet, more than 1.98 million people died, 66.4 million were cured.In Ukraine, 1.1 million cases of coronavirus were recorded, with 20.3 thousand people have died, and another 837 thousand have recovered.