Ukraine has received 203 thousand doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, adapted to protect against the Omicron strain, for free vaccinations from the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF as part of the international COVAX initiative.
According to the Ministry of Health on its website, the vaccine will be distributed to all regions. The storage and transportation of vaccines will be ensured by specialists of the regional centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) in compliance with the requirements of the cold chain.
The vaccine is intended for booster vaccination of those who have already received the primary COVID-19 vaccination.
According to Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine, more than 13 strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are currently circulating in Ukraine, and all detected mutations are deviations from the Omicron strain.
In total, since the beginning of the epidemic season in Ukraine in October, more than a million Ukrainians have fallen ill with SARS, influenza and COVID-19.
The general recommended course of primary vaccination against COVID-19 and the first booster is three vaccinations. The first booster is administered five months after the initial vaccination.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended the use of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines adapted to protect against the Omicron coronavirus strain, the regulator said on Thursday.
The EMA Medicines Committee has recommended that two vaccines adapted for broader protection against COVID-19 be allowed to be used.
It notes that we are talking about vaccines aimed specifically at protecting against “omicron”.
According to the report, studies have shown that adapted versions of the vaccine “induce a strong immune response against Omicron and the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 in people who were previously vaccinated.”
Now the recommendation of the EMA committee will be sent to the European Commission, which “will make a final legally binding decision applicable in all EU member states”
Kharkiv region is provided with CoronaVac vaccine, in addition, the region received a batch of Comirnaty Tris vaccines from Pfizer and a batch of Janssen vaccines is expected, the press service of the regional military administration reports.
“The region has received 14,000 doses of the Comirnaty Tris vaccine from Pfizer. More than 6,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine are also expected. In addition, today the region is supplied with the CoronaVac vaccine in sufficient quantities,” the message says.
According to the director of the HOVA Health Department Maxim Khaustov, in Kharkiv you can get vaccinated in polyclinics, in the region – in other medical institutions. You can get both the first or second dose, as well as a booster or additional. The technical possibility of entering the new Comirnaty Tris vaccine into the Electronic Health System and uploading updated covid certificates to Diya will become available from next week.
Khaustov noted that a new wave of COVID-19 is already beginning in Europe and urged residents of the region to get vaccinated.
“I remind you that the only effective way to counter the disease is vaccination … Depending on which vaccine was made first, you can do a booster dose of both Janssen, which is a vector vaccine, and Comirnaty Tris, which is an mRNA vaccine,” Khaustov said. .
According to him, since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in the region, about 2 million 850 thousand vaccinations have been made, while more than 1 million 100 thousand people have been vaccinated with two doses. Since February 24, 50,000 vaccinations have been made in the region, of which about 40,000 are booster doses.
Since February 24, 20 people have died from complications caused by COVID-19.
The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer will continue humanitarian supplies of medicines to the Russian Federation, all the profits of the Russian branch will be directed to humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
“Pfizer will immediately donate all profits of our Russian subsidiary to causes that provide direct humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. This will be in addition to all other recently announced donations from Pfizer to Ukraine. In addition, we will no longer initiate new clinical trials in Russia and will cease enrollment of new patients in our ongoing clinical trials in the country,” Pfizer said on its website on Monday.
The company also clarified that it will transfer all current clinical trials to alternative sites outside the Russian Federation, but will continue to provide the necessary medicines to patients already included in clinical trials.
“While Pfizer does not own or operate any manufacturing sites in Russia, we will terminate all planned investments with local suppliers to increase manufacturing capacity in the country,” the company said.
At the same time, the company notes that the voluntary suspension of drug supplies to the Russian Federation “would be a direct violation of the fundamental principle of patient priority.”
By the end of 2021, another 17 million doses of the American Pfizer vaccine will arrive in Ukraine, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Ihor Kuzin said in an interview with Radio Liberty on Saturday.
“By the end of the year, Ukraine will receive another 17 million of Pfizer,” he said.
At the same time, Kuzin stressed that the coronavirus outbreak may occur earlier this vaccine reaches the country. Therefore, the chief state sanitary doctor of Ukraine does not advise waiting for the opportunity to choose, but getting vaccinated as soon as possible with the vaccine that is available now.
Earlier it was reported that as of August 7, more than 4 million people were vaccinated in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine allowed to store the undiluted vaccine against COVID-19 Comirnaty produced by Pfizer-BioNTech at temperatures from + 2°C to + 8°C for a month instead of five days, the ministry said on its official website.
The Ministry of Health received the corresponding letter from Pfizer Export B.V. with a request to review the requirements for the cold chain of the Comirnaty vaccine on June 24, 2021. The company turned to regulators after a series of new studies.
The European Medicines Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the relevant authorities of other countries have also changed the storage requirements for the vaccine.
