Health officials seek to have 60% of adult Ukrainians vaccinated for COVID before year-end

The Ministry of Health intends to ensure vaccinate for the novel coronavirus at least 60% of the adult population by the end of 2021.

"By the end of the year, we must vaccinate at least 60% of the adult population over the age of 18," Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told Ukraine 24 TV.

"That's if we have vaccines in sufficient volumes, if other countries don't let us down, that is, if they fulfill the contracts. The world hasn't seen anything like this before – countries are blocking vaccine supplies despite all contracts signed. Therefore, if there is an appropriate amount of doses, we will be able to vaccinate up to 5 million citizens per month," the minister said.

A total of 11,500 vaccination sites are available across Ukraine, the minister noted.

Read alsoCOVID-19: Over 10,500 new active cases reported as of March 30"But we must understand that Ukraine has never seen such a large-scale inoculation campaign. It's important that we don't make any systemic program errors," he added.

Vaccination in Ukraine

On February 24, a phased vaccination campaign was launched in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, citizens receive a CoviShield (AstraZeneca) vaccine produced under license by India's Serum Institute

To date, about 200,000 people have already been vaccinated in Ukraine.