Ukraine expects to receive the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative in the first half of 2021, Ukrainian Health Minister Maxym Stepanov has said.
“The first tranche will include 1.2 million doses and is expected to reach Ukraine in the first half of 2021,” Stepanov said during an online briefing on Friday.
The necessary technical documents are to be signed before December 7, he said.
“We plan primarily to vaccinate people from risk groups, such as medical workers, people aged 65 and older, and people having chronic diseases,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ten pharmaceutical companies are currently completing Phase 3 of the clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines and are planning to have their vaccines certified soon, Stepanov said.
The wife of Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Al-Kaabi donated over 5,000 rapid tests for coronavirus (COVID-19) infection to Kyiv.
As deputy head of Kyiv City State Administration Maryna Khonda said, these tests will be transferred to Kyiv orphanages and nursing homes for the elderly.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic did not recede. In the spring, when the phase of strict quarantine was underway, an outbreak of coronavirus was detected in Darnytsia orphanage boarding school for girls. Fortunately, everything went well, but in order to prevent such outbreaks in the future, we need to quickly and promptly identify disease and respond to cases of infection. These rapid tests will be sent to Sviatoshyn and Darnytsia orphanages, as well as to Kyiv geriatric boarding house and Kyiv boarding house of labor veterans. Thus, we will be able to control outbreaks of COVID-19 among people who are in the so-called ‘risk zone’, and not to allow further spread. I am very grateful to the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates for this assistance,” the press service of Kyiv City State Administration said.
It is noted that 724 people live in these four institutions: in orphanages 239 children with disabilities aged from seven to 35 years of various disorders, in geriatric institutions 485 people of retirement age.
Ukraine has signed a two-year cooperation agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) online, Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov has said.
“This agreement defines a clear ‘roadmap’ for our further joint work, in particular, regarding the solution of such challenges of our time as the still excessively high incidence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and tuberculosis in Ukraine. After all, the fight against the pandemic does not stop our efforts to implement strategic and qualitative changes in the health care system,” the minister wrote on his Facebook page.
Due to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the agreement was signed online simultaneously in Kyiv and Copenhagen.
Pharmacies receive UAH 226 mln from National Health Service under reimbursement program for July-September.
Kyiv needs about UAH 245 million to deploy temporary hospitals at the Sports Palace and exhibition centers, said Health Minister Maksym Stepanov.
“We received information from Kyiv authorities on where they are going to place temporary mobile hospitals, if necessary – it can be either an exhibition center or a Sports Palace. They calculated that they need UAH 245 million,” he said at a briefing on Friday.
Stepanov said that temporary mobile hospitals will create 500 additional beds. To ensure the treatment process in such hospitals, according to calculations, 1,200 medical personnel will be needed.
“We are organizing information now,” he said.
Three stages of clinical trials of the Ukrainian candidate for vaccines against coronavirus (COVID-19) will take about a year, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has said.
“We still have a very long way to go for this vaccine candidate to become a vaccine. For this, we need to go through three phases of clinical trials. Now an appropriate production facility is being selected in Ukraine where this can be done. If our expectations come true, and the chosen manufacturer and the chosen path we go through normally, then in […] about a year, we can get original Ukrainian vaccine against COVID-19,” Stepanov said at an online briefing on Monday.
As reported, earlier the developers presented results of the preclinical study phase of original Ukrainian vaccine candidate to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
These studies lasted six months and include the presence of coronavirus neutralization in a sample of infected human cells. It was reported that this candidate for original Ukrainian vaccine is being created on the basis of a unique approach.
At the same time, Zelensky said that he cannot speak today about the timing of appearance of such a vaccine. If someone has a vaccine for COVID-19 earlier, Ukraine will buy it.
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has asked the World Bank to increase the amount of funds previously considered for Ukraine in order to purchase vaccines, according to the agency’s website.
“Now the Ministry of Health has two priority areas in the fight against COVID-19 from the point of view of the healthcare system. The first one is to ensure maximum testing with PCR tests. Therefore, in addition to our large laboratories, it is important to consider the possibility of equipping laboratories for 200-250 PCR tests directly in hospitals. The second priority is the vaccine. We turned to the World Bank with a request to increase the amount of funds that were previously considered for allocating to Ukraine for the purchase of vaccines,” Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov said.
He expressed hope that these two areas will become the basis for new strategic projects between the Ministry of Health and the bank.
Arup Banerji, the World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine), in turn, promised “to cooperate with the ministry’s team to provide all the resources necessary to implement these directions.”
