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Today, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) delivered 188,370 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Ukraine.
These doses, together with diluent, are donated to Ukraine by the United States Government through the COVAX Facility, as part of the global effort to ensure fair and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for all countries around the world.
According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the newly arrived vaccines are to be used at mass vaccination centres and for vaccination of professional groups.
Deliveries under COVAX will continue. By the end of 2021 Ukraine is expected to receive enough vaccines produced by various manufacturers to protect up to 20% of the population from COVID-19, within COVAX.
“I extend my warmest thanks to the U.S. Government and our partners, who within and beyond the COVAX initiative are helping to protect from grave consequences of coronavirus disease as many Ukrainians as possible, first and foremost those from priority groups. I would also like to reiterate that the COVID-19 vaccine is available to all adults. All you need to do is book a convenient appointment, show up and get the shot”, said Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine
“The United States is fully committed to the global fight against COVID-19, and we are proud to partner with Ukraine to scale up access to quality, approved COVID-19 vaccines across the country,” noted U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Kristina Kvien. “Vaccines are one of the best tools we have to fight this pandemic.”
“UNICEF is grateful to the Government of the United States for their continued support to COVID-19 response and lifesaving vaccination in Ukraine. Today’s support is critical and timely. The past school year with its distant learning proved to be a real challenge for educators, children, and parents. With a prospect of a new COVID wave, we need to get as many parents, as many teachers as we can to get their COVID-19 vaccines. We know that vaccines work. Now that vaccines are available, it is important that parents and teachers get their protection and are able to fully support 4.2 million schoolchildren in Ukraine,” said Murat Sahin, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine.
“WHO welcomes the arrival of additional vaccines to protect population of Ukraine from severe COVID-19 cases. In the past months we have regular deliveries of vaccine and now Ukraine is managing more than 1 million vaccinations doses a week what is very encouraging. Vaccines together with public health measures help us to manage the pandemic and I call people from risk groups, elderly people, and healthcare workers who did not get COVID-19 vaccine yet to contact your family doctor or vaccination centers available now across the country to get the vaccine before the next wave of the pandemic begins to be safe and healthy”, says Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative and Head of WHO Country Office in Ukraine.
In-country storage and logistics of mRNA vaccines for this shipment from COVAX, in accordance with relevant cold chain requirements, are provided by USAID through the SAFEMed project.
Previously, in July, UNICEF delivered 2,000,040 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the United States through COVAX. In total, 4,325,910 doses of vaccines by different manufacturers (Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca) have been delivered to Ukraine to date through the COVAX Facility.
UNICEF also supported the delivery of 509,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, donated by Denmark at the beginning of August.
COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner, as well as civil society organisations, vaccine manufacturers, governments of US, UK, European Union, World Bank, and others.
Media contacts
Viktoriia Reshetnik
Communication Officer
UNICEF Ukraine
Email: vreshetnik@unicef.org