Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has held a working meeting with the G7 Ambassadors in Ukraine.
He announced this on Facebook on February 26.
Read alsoCOVID-19: Number of new active cases exceeds 8,000, second day in row, on Feb 26
According to him, several key issues were on the agenda. "We've discussed the Health Ministry's strategy to combat COVID-19, a vaccination program for Ukrainians, a [coronavirus] vaccination awareness campaign, and further plans to reform the healthcare sector in general," Stepanov wrote.
The ministry has planned five main stages of the vaccination campaign in the country and expects to complete the main activities by autumn this year.
"We've checked where we stand on [coronavirus] vaccination passports. I understand that one way or another, at the level of civilized countries, we must hammer out standard rules. However, I am convinced that they cannot and should not become a tool of institutional segregation or translate into the violation of basic human rights and freedoms," he added.
Vaccination passports
- In February, digital passports for travelers with information about COVID-19 vaccinations, which are being developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), could be launched "within a few weeks."
- It is not only IATA that is involved in the creation of vaccination passports. In January, several technology and healthcare companies, including Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle, launched an initiative to develop such technology. Local systems are also being developed, for example, in Denmark or the U.S. (Los Angeles).
- In the EU, the idea of issuing a travel certificate, the so-called vaccination passport, to those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 has received a mixed reaction. Countries with developed tourism sectors, such as Italy, Bulgaria, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, tend to be more supportive of this concept.
- In January, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for the introduction of a vaccination certificate so that travel could resume. Cyprus is also insisting that vaccinated travelers be allowed to skip testing and quarantine when traveling between EU countries.
