The U.S-based Pfizer has applied for the registration in Ukraine of its vaccine for COVID-19.
That's according to Minister of Health Maksy Stepanov, who spoke at a video conference organized by the American-Ukrainian Business Council.
"I was informed that Pfizer had applied for registration [of its vaccine] and will be registered in the next few days, I believe. Literally, our experts, who have received documents from Pfizer, have just messaged me," he said.
The news comes against a recent report of President Volodymyr Zelensky signing Law No. 4613 "On Medicines", which streamlines the routing for registration and use of COVID-19 vaccines, reducing certification terms to five days.
Read alsoUkraine applies for registration of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccineCOVID-19 vaccines for Ukraine: Background
Ukraine has received information from COVAX on the supply of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines from 2.2 to 3.7 million doses in the first or second quarter of 2021. In addition, the vaccine will be purchased for public funds directly from manufacturers. At least 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to arrive in Ukraine in February 2021.
Ukraine has signed contracts for the supply of 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which were developed by AstraZeneca (UK-Sweden) and Novavax (the United States) and are produced at the Serum Institute facilities (India).
The AstraZeneca vaccine is a vector vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the British-Swedish AstraZeneca company. A complete immunization requires two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart. It can be stored for up to six months at a temperature from +2°C to +8°C.
COVAX is a global initiative aimed at accelerating the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines and providing to low- and middle-income countries. COVAX supplies only those vaccines that have been included by the WHO in the emergency drug registry.
