More than 50% of Ukrainians do not intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to results of a study conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from March 5 to 9.
According to the results of the poll, 51.5% of respondents answered that they do not intend to get vaccinated against coronavirus, 12% intend to get vaccine in the near future (or have already received such a vaccine), 16% intend to do it, but later, 10% intend to do it only when it will be necessary for formal requirements (for example, for a trip abroad), 10% have not decided yet.
At the same time, according to the research, the older the respondents, the more often they express a lack of desire to be vaccinated (their share increases from 43.5% among those who are from 18 to 29 years old, to 57% among those who are 60 and over).
Among those who do not give up their intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19, 52% are ready to be vaccinated only in case that vaccination is free, 22.5% of them are willing to pay for it, and another 5% are willing to pay to get vaccinated out of turn (21% were undecided).
The older the respondents, the more often they answer that they are ready to be vaccinated only free of charge (the proportion of such increases from 42% among those who are 18 to 29 years old, to 64% among those who are 60 and over).
Those respondents who do not intend to be vaccinated are most often motivated by the fact that, in their opinion, the vaccines used in Ukraine are not sufficiently effective or safe, but they are ready to be vaccinated with “some other” vaccine (this answer is given by 45% of those who do not intend to vaccinate).
So, 27% of them motivate their refusal by the fact that, in their opinion, the risks from vaccination exceed the risks from the disease itself, 10% by the fact that they have already had coronavirus, 7% have medical contraindications, 3% believe that the probability that that they will get COVID-19, is very low.
Justification of refusal to vaccinate with insufficient effectiveness or insufficient safety of vaccines used in Ukraine is most common among representatives of the younger age group (18-29 years old) (54% of those, who do not intend to vaccinate against COVID-19, motivate their refusal by this).
The survey was conducted by the method of face-to-face interviews at the place of residence of the respondents. 2,018 respondents aged 18 and over were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to a sample representing the adult population in terms of basic socio-demographic indicators.
The theoretical sampling error (excluding the design effect) does not exceed 2.3% with a probability of 0.95.
Ukraine has registered a Chinese vaccine against COVID-19, CoronaVac made by Sinovac Biotech Ltd, its authorized Ukrainian representative, the Kyiv-based Lekhim told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
Under its contract with the Health Ministry for 1.9 million doses of the Chinese vaccine, Lekhim is to supply the first 700,000 doses this month.
Lekhim Group and Sinovac Biotech reached the agreement after ten months of talks over cooperation on the distribution and localization of the vaccine production for a five-year period.
Earlier, Ukraine registered the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday will hold a conference call with the regions to increase the speed of vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, 19,118 people have been inoculated. I am not satisfied with these numbers, I set a different task for the speed of vaccination. By the end of the previous week, we had to reach 10,000 people per day and increase this number. We reached a little more than 2,000-3,000 vaccinations per day. Today we will hold an appropriate conference call, which will be attended by the heads of the Regional State Administrations, the leadership of the President’s Office, and directorates of health departments that coordinate vaccinations locally,” he said.
In addition, the minister noted that 185 cases of side effects from vaccination were recorded in Ukraine.
“As of today, out of almost 20,000 vaccinations, only 185 reports of side effects from immunization have been recorded. No serious side effects from vaccination have been recorded in Ukraine. Only one case required medical supervision, when a person had a fever for two days after vaccination,” he said.
Stepanov also said that as of March 9, some 190,230 people had already signed up for the vaccination waiting list.
A team of Ukrainian researchers, which included scientists from JSC Farmak pharmaceutical company and the Hromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, have developed a PCR test capable of detecting even new strains of the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus. According to the company’s press release, the availability of technological equipment purchased by Farmak allowed for the first time in Ukraine to carry out the sequencing procedure. This is “reading” the sequence of nucleotides in the RNA of the virus “as spelling a text.”
“Sequencing allows, in case of revealing differences in the genetic text (mutations), to draw conclusions about the presence of new strains of the virus. The results of the study, in fact, confirmed the presence of a new strain of coronavirus in Ukraine,” the researchers said.
The results of the study, as well as information about the virus strains circulating in Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic, have already been posted in the GISAID international initiative promoting the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing COVID-19.
Farmak said that on March 3, the research team confirmed that the new PCR test system developed by the pharmaceutical company’s specialists, in addition to the already widespread strains, also detects the new UK variant of coronavirus.
The Farmak test system was based on the TaqPath COVID 19 RT PCR Kit (Thermo Scientific, the United States), which is authorized by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA). High quality components made in the United States are used for the production of the new SARS-CoV-2 test kit.
The quality of the new test kit is confirmed by the relevant findings of the Hromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv) and the Mechnikov Institute of Microbiology and Immunology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine (Kharkiv). Reference trials of the PCR test kit are carried out in private and public laboratories in Ukraine (Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhia, Vinnytsia), confirming its effectiveness.
Farmak said that the new test kit has opened up to pre-purchasing.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19), the head of state said on his Instagram page.
“Doctors and military personnel are already being vaccinated. I urge all others to join the Diia queue. There is nothing to be afraid of, I am setting my own example,” the president said on Tuesday.
On Twitter, Zelensky said that he was vaccinated on the front line with Ukrainian soldiers as commander-in-chief.
“The same Oxford/AstraZeneca (Covishield) from India, which was delivered first to Ukraine, and which received millions of people around the world. The vaccine will allow us to live again without restrictions,” he said.
An Oxford/AstraZeneca (Covishield) vaccine for emergency medical use against coronavirus (COVID-19) was registered in Ukraine on Monday, the Health Ministry’s press service said.
During a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday, Deputy Health Minister Yaroslav Kucher said the vaccine will arrive in Ukraine in the morning on Tuesday.
Previously, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use has already been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the UK, EU and India have also given permission for its use.
Oxford/AstraZeneca (Covishield) applied for registration with the State Expert Center of the Health Ministry on February 15. Ukraine has a law that simplifies the registration procedure for COVID-19 vaccines and reduces it to five working days.
