First shots of Pfizer vaccine in Ukraine scheduled for April 18, official says

Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister and Chief Medical Officer Viktor Liashko has said first shots with the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Ukraine are scheduled for April 18.

"Tomorrow, on April 17, some 29,500 doses will be sent to all regional warehouses, to all regional centers of our country, and the first shots will be administered on April 18," he said at a Friday briefing upon arrival of the first batch of the vaccine, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

Read alsoCOVID-19: Over 17,000 new active cases reported as of April 16Liashko said 117,000 doses of the vaccine would be transported from the airport to a customs-licensed warehouse to undergo customs clearance, after which they would be delivered to a logistics company that could store the vaccine at temperatures below -70°C.

"The first shots with the Pfizer vaccine will be administered at nursing homes, since these vaccines were planned for them," he added.

Vaccination in Ukraine

• On April 16, 2021, the first batch of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Ukraine as part of the COVAX Facility.
• The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine called Comirnaty was approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use. The vaccine is administered intramuscularly. People should get two doses of the vaccine with an interval of three weeks to be fully vaccinated.