On Wednesday, February 24, Ukraine started a vaccination campaign against COVID-19. The first vaccines were directed to the regions at 7 a.m. The objective is to immunize people as soon as possible so that doctors receive protection in time, as was emphasized by the Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov during the briefing.
The first jab was received by the intensive care physician of Cherkasy Regional Hospital Yevgeny Gorenko.
"Ukraine is provided with vaccines for the first and second stages in accordance with the plans of the Ministry of Health and has agreements for vaccination for the next stages. We have received a reliable vaccine from a world-renowned manufacturer - the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca (Covishield), which meets safety and quality standards and is widely used by leading countries in both Europe and the world," Maksym Stepanov stated.
During their stay in India, the Ukrainian team managed to agree on additional batches of the American vaccine NovaVax and to pre-contract vaccines from other manufacturers, including the Indian "Kovaksin" from "Bharat Biotech".
The researchers concluded that the vaccines were effective and safe. The medication has already received permission for use in emergency conditions.
As of today, Ukraine expects the following deliveries of vaccines:
Pfizer – over 100,000 doses.
Sinovac – around 2,000,000 doses.
AstraZeneca (CoviShield) – almost 4,000,000 doses.
NovaVax – 15,000,000 doses with the term of supply around July of the current year.
It should be noted that at the first stage of the immunization process, doctors working with COVID patients, ambulance brigades, laboratory staff testing for COVID-19, residents and staff of nursing homes, and the military at the frontline will be vaccinated.