The Lekhim group of pharmaceutical companies has signed an agreement to supply 5 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 produced by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech in the first half of 2021, the company said in a press release on its website.
“Lekhim Group and Sinovac Biotech, which are partners, have reached an agreement in negotiations that lasted for 10 months on cooperation in the distribution and localization of production in Ukraine of the vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a period of five years,” the press release reads.
According to the report, Lekhim is the official and exclusive supplier of CoronaVac vaccine in Ukraine.
The release recalls that in addition to the sale of the CoronaVac vaccine, cooperation involves the organization of production of finished dosage forms of vaccines (including CoronaVac) from 2022 in Ukraine (Lekhim-Kharkiv), and from 2025 it is planned to organize a full production cycle of the main list of vaccines.
Sinovac Biotech is a Chinese vaccine producing company founded in Beijing in 2001 with a capacity of 300 to 500 million doses of six types of vaccines for humans and animals per year. Sinovac’s main products are vaccines against hepatitis A (prequalified by the WHO) and B, influenza, mumps, chickenpox, which are registered and approved for vaccination in 34 countries around the world.
CoronaVac is an inactivated vaccine. It uses a traditional vaccine mechanism in which a non-living virus that cannot replicate in human cells is used to activate the immune system. Phase 3 trials of the Chinese vaccine have already taken place in Brazil and Indonesia. Tests are ongoing in Turkey and Chile.
The pharmaceutical company JSC Biolik (Kharkiv) confirmed that on December 31, 2020, it submitted an application to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine for registration of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 developed in Russia.
“In connection with numerous inquiries, the administration of JSC Biolik informs that on December 31, 2020 we did send to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine an application for state registration of a medicinal product – vaccine Gam-COVID-Vac, combined vector vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, produced by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Federation,” the company’s press service said.
The text of the statement was also made public.
As reported, earlier, head of the political council of the Opposition Platform – For Life party Viktor Medvedchuk said that on December 30, the Biolik pharmaceutical company applied to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health with an application for state registration of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
On January 4, the State Expert Center, with reference to its head Mykhailo Babenko, told Interfax-Ukraine that “as of 11:00 of January 4, 2021, the State Expert Center didn’t receive applications for registration of any vaccines against COVID-19 from the company Biolik.
The Sputnik V vaccine has not passed the third phase of clinical trials.
In turn, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko assured that only those vaccines against coronavirus infection that have successfully completed clinical trials will be used in Ukraine, “therefore, all rumors and political statements about the state registration of the Russian vaccine candidate in Ukraine do not correspond to reality.” Liashko said that according to available data, the completion of the third phase of clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine is scheduled for December 2021.
In early December, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced readiness of JSC Biolik (Kharkiv) to produce the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 in Ukraine. At the same time, Biolik company denied that statement then.
Additional strengthened quarantine restrictions began to operate to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Ukraine from 00:00 on Friday, January 8.
As reported, according to resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1236 of December 9, 2020, the lockdown will last until 00:00 on January 25, 2021.
During this period, the operation of cafes, restaurants and bars (except for delivery and takeaway), non-food stores, non-food markets, cinemas, fitness clubs, gyms, swimming pools, theaters and shopping centers is prohibited. Also, all educational institutions are placed on vacation, except for kindergartens and special educational institutions. In addition, all public events are prohibited.
During a lockdown, retail chains are allowed to sell food products, provided that at least 60% of their area is intended for food sales.
It is also allowed to trade in medicines, medical goods, hygiene products, communication equipment, veterinary drugs, feed, seeds, plant protection products, household chemicals and the printed press, trade in fuel.
According to decree No. 1236, trade in other groups of goods can only be carried out on condition of targeted delivery of orders.
It is also allowed “to carry out activities for the provision of financial services, activities of financial institutions and activities for the collection and transportation of currency values, the activities of postal operators, as well as medical practice, veterinary practice, the activities of gas stations (without food zones), activities for maintenance and repair vehicles, hairdressers and beauty salons by appointment.”
It is prohibited to conduct all mass (entertainment, sports, social, advertising and other) events (except for the organization of skiing leisure, but without the work of catering establishments and the sale of alcoholic beverages). At the same time, the ban also does not apply to the New Year and Christmas holidays (without concerts and fairs, including food fairs), official sports events included in the Unified Schedule of Physical Culture and Health and Sports Events of Ukraine and matches of team playing sports of professional sports clubs without spectators, provided that the participants of such events comply with the relevant sanitary and anti-epidemic measures and the implementation of mandatory daily monitoring of the health of the participants.
Also, the work of catering establishments and places for food in hotels is prohibited from 11:00 to 6:00 the next day, except for the provision of catering services in a hotel room at the request of customers.
Central and local executive authorities, other state bodies, from January 11 to January 22, 2021 inclusively, were instructed to establish a remote (home) work mode for employees, except for employees for whom it is impossible to establish a remote (home) work mode due to the nature of the performed tasks, and workers providing administrative services.
It is also recommended “to local government bodies, enterprises, institutions, organizations regardless of the form of ownership, except for institutions, regardless of the form of ownership, providing financial, banking and housing services, health protection, food supply, energy supply, water supply, communications, those that provide the functioning of the infrastructure of transport support, the sphere of defense, law and order and protection, critical infrastructure facilities, to establish a remote (home) work mode for workers in the period from January 11 to January 22, 2021, inclusively.”
Resolution No. 1236 also extended the quarantine regime in Ukraine until February 28, 2021. At the same time, planned hospitalizations in communal and state medical institutions are prohibited, the work of private clinics is not limited. Private medical institutions can carry out planned hospitalizations and operations in compliance with the necessary sanitary and epidemiological standards.
As mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said earlier, during the lockdown, public transport of the capital, including the metro, will work, but urged to use public transport only when it is necessary.
Illegal import of vaccine against COVID-19 in significant volumes is hardly possible due to strict control over its circulation, senior partner of ABSC Krzysztof Siedlecki believes.
“The demand for the vaccine is huge, the requirements for its logistics are very high. I have very great doubts about the possibility of smuggling the vaccine into Ukraine, although it cannot be ruled out,” he told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the statement of businessman Mykhailo Brodsky that a number of Ukrainian government officials, in particular some people’s deputies and top officials, were secretly vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer vaccine illegally imported to Ukraine from Israel.
He noted that the COVID-19 vaccine is not currently in free circulation.
“This is not a product that you can just call and order from Pfizer. It doesn’t work that way. It’s hard to even imagine that some distributor can illegally import the vaccine, because this vaccine requires special transportation conditions, a very low temperature – 70 degrees below zero, because at higher temperatures the vaccine is stored for only a few days. The possibility of smuggling this vaccine under such conditions is very small,” he said.
The expert stressed that due to the high demand for the COVID-19 vaccine, the distribution of these vaccines around the world is carried out under the strict control of state authorities. At the same time, he admitted that “the doctor can take several doses of the vaccine uncontrollably, but their validity is limited: if they are in the refrigerator, then the shelf life is several days.”
“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not easy. If we were talking about several hundred doses, then there would be a resonance. I don’t believe that Pfizer would have allowed such a leak,” he said.
Ukraine will receive the vaccine produced by the Sinovac Biotech Chinese company within 30 days after registration, Health Minister of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.
“Due to the supply of the vaccine from Sinovac Biotech, we will receive 1.913 million doses of vaccine against coronavirus disease. During the first delivery, some 700,000 doses will arrive in Ukraine, we will receive them within 30 days after the vaccine is registered either in the manufacturing country or in other countries (the United States, UK, EU, Brazil, etc.),” he said.
“The company is to release the results of clinical trials in Brazil on January 7. It is stipulated that the vaccine must have an efficiency of at least 70%. Negotiations with the manufacturer have lasted since September 2020. The agreement was signed by the Lekhim Ukrainian pharmaceutical company,” the minister said.
According to Stepanov, the third phase of clinical trials was done in Brazil (13,060 patients), Indonesia (1,600 patients) and Turkey (1,325 patients). The efficiency in Indonesia was 97%, in Turkey it was 91%. The FDA recommends that COVID-19 vaccines should be more than 50% effective.
The minister said that all vaccines purchased for government funds will be free for all citizens of Ukraine.
In addition, the head of the Health Ministry said that the department is at the final stage of signing contracts with other vaccine manufacturing companies, and also intends to increase the number of vaccines that will be supplied to Ukraine as part of the COVAX initiative.
Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov has held talks with Executive Director for International and Government Affairs of AstraZeneca Alec van Gelder on the timing and logistics of deliveries of the COVID-19 vaccine to Ukraine.
“For several months, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has been establishing active and effective communication with the head office of AstraZeneca. Today we have already discussed the logistics and delivery terms of vaccines against COVID-19 from AstraZeneca in Ukraine. Our state is completely ready to receive vaccines. A plan for vaccination of the population has been fully developed,” Stepanov said, the press service of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine reported on Facebook.
Alec van Gelder, in turn, noted readiness for active cooperation with Ukraine.
“We thank the Ministry of Health of Ukraine for consistency and openness. Now we will process options for the supply of vaccines in Ukraine in the near future,” he summed up.
It is noted that on December 30, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use in the UK, vaccination will begin on Monday.
As reported, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine signed a contract for the supply of vaccines against COVID-19 produced by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech to Ukraine.
