Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister and Chief Medical Officer Viktor Liashko has said Ukraine received confirmation of an additional supply of one million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX Facility.
"Today we've received additional confirmation from the COVAX Facility to provide Ukraine with almost one million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which will be delivered in tranches by late June," he told the Hromadske media outlet in an interview.
Ukraine should receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the coming weeks, he added.
Read alsoHealth officials seek to have 60% of adult Ukrainians vaccinated for COVID before year-endLiashko also listed other vaccines Ukraine should receive.
"We've received 500,000 doses of the CoviShield (AstraZeneca) vaccine. The contract provided for another one million doses by late March. After that, another 500,000 doses and another million. However, a temporary ban on the export of vaccines is in force in India now, but we do not panic since a new vaccine is coming from the same platform, i.e. under the COVAX Facility," he said.
The official specified it is the same AstraZeneca vaccine, which is produced in South Korea. Ukraine should receive 1.7 million doses of this vaccine by late May, and the first batch of 360,000 doses is ready to be shipped. However, the manufacturer has not yet certified the vaccine in Ukraine.
What is more, Ukraine should receive two million CoronaVac vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd under a contract.
"The first batch of 215,000 doses has already been delivered; the rest is expected in the next tranches. These 215,000 doses are undergoing laboratory testing and we hope the vaccine will be approved soon," Liashko said.
