Ukraine may adjust COVID-19 vaccination plan – health minister

Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says the ministry may adjust the coronavirus vaccination plan in order for the country's leadership to get vaccinated.

"We need to introduce changes to the vaccination plan so that both the president and the prime minister could get vaccinated. Since the plan does not provide for vaccination of the authorities. I think we will make these changes to boost trust in the vaccination," he said during a morning TV show Snidanok z 1+1 on February 2, 2021.

Stepanov said he also plans to get vaccinated. President Volodymyr Zelensky is also ready to do this to show the importance of vaccination by his own example. According to the health minister, this will help to increase the share of people who are ready to be vaccinated.

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• Ukraine expects to handle the first four stages of a coronavirus vaccination campaign by September. By that time, the Health Ministry plans to receive all the planned doses of vaccines.
• On January 29, the National Commission for technology-related and environmental safety and emergencies approved a schedule for vaccination against the coronavirus in Ukraine in 2021.
• First to get vaccinated will be healthcare workers, participants in the Joint Forces Operation in Donbas, the elderly, and seriously ill patients.