The delivery of a next batch of AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccine to Ukraine may be postponed for a certain period due to the active information campaign that was launched against the Indian vaccine in our country, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Public Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance Mykhailo Radutsky (the Servant of the People faction) said.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received a letter from the Indian Embassy, which emphasizes the inadmissibility of defamatory statements about India as a manufacturer of medicines and the AstraZeneca [CoviShield] vaccine supplied to Ukraine,” Radutsky wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
He said that, as noted by the Indian side, the AstraZeneca vaccine (CoviShield) is an absolutely safe and effective drug, which has been confirmed by the World Health Organization.
“Only in Europe and India, about 50 million doses of this vaccine have already been used. Significant volumes of the drug have been contracted by countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Brazil and others,” the MP said.
He said that Ukraine has contracted 1.5 million doses of vaccine produced in India, but for the manufacturer “it is not a problem to transfer this batch to other customers”, since the demand for vaccines in the world significantly exceeds the production capacity.
“According to my information, President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed Ministers Maksym Stepanov and Dmytro Kuleba to find additional ways to speed up the delivery of the next batch of CoviShield vaccine to Ukraine. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine should do everything necessary as soon as possible to convince Indian partners that the state and Ukrainian society are not involved in discrediting the vaccine supplier,” Radutsky said.
He said that both odious pro-Russian politicians and pseudo-patriotic political leaders who are doing everything to return to power, amid the destabilization of the country, worked to disrupt cooperation with India.
“We all remember the shameful statement of one of these figures, which he made during a meeting of the conciliation council of the Verkhovna Rada. It was a deliberate cynical game to disrupt the supply of vaccines and block the vaccination campaign. This man doomed thousands of Ukrainians to death in order to satisfy his own political ambitions,” the MP said.
As previously reported, the first batch of 500,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccine was delivered to Ukraine on the morning of February 23
The pharmaceutical group of companies Yuria-Pharm is considering the possibility of localizing vaccine production in Ukraine.
Director General of Yuria-Pharm pharmaceutical corporation Dmytro Derkach told Interfax-Ukraine that the company is actively working on the issue of providing the Ukrainian population with vaccines, including the vaccine against COVID-19.
“Five years ago, construction began on a new plant in Cherkasy with a total area of more than 25,000 square meters, which provides for high-tech aseptic production and production of biotechnological products. The workshops of the new production site have been launched starting in 2020,” he said.
According to Derkach, the construction of the new facility became possible “thanks to the principle that the company has adhered to since its inception: to reinvest over 80% of profits in new directions, which is more than $25 million per year, and also thanks to a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD ) obtained in 2020.
He said that a prerequisite for the development of the production of biotechnological products was the developments of its own Biotech R&D, in particular, a technological platform for the development and pilot production of recombinant protein products, monoclonal antibodies. In addition, a hardware and methodological base was established to ensure quality control of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, both of our own production and solutions of contract partners.
Yuria-Pharm is also testing its own platform for the development of RNA-based drugs as an effective, modern, safe and fast drug development method, which, in particular, has been used by companies that have become pioneers in the development of an RNA vaccine against COVID-19.
“We are now actively working on the issue of finding partners for the transfer of technology for the production of vaccines from COVID-19 to our new production site. We have selected a pool of companies for this, including from the United States and China, whose development is in the late stages, in particular in the third phase of clinical trials. We are negotiating with them to select a potential candidate for technology transfer and provide them with our production facilities,” Derkach said.
The director general of the group clarified: “We are not developing our own vaccine, since at present there are more than 130 companies in the world at various stages of developing a vaccine against COVID-19, so we are looking for a candidate among them.”
But at the same time, he believes that the pharmaceutical industry of Ukraine should be potentially ready for the transfer and industrial production of vaccines, the development of which will eventually be offered by domestic research institutes.
The group of companies Yuria-Pharm is included in the list of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine. The main areas of activity are the development (R&D,) production, marketing and distribution of drugs and medical products.
Yuria-Pharm LLC is a member of the Association of Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
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.
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.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Indian partners for the delivery of the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccine to Ukraine.
In a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, the head of state also promised to start vaccination of the population against coronavirus (COVID-19) in Ukraine “as soon as possible.”
“The first 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Ukraine. We appreciate the Indian partners for their support. We will start vaccination as soon as possible. We need to fight COVID-19 together,” Zelensky said.
The COVID-19 crisis has taken a heavy toll on human life, as well as damaged economies and livelihoods. Vaccines have emerged as the best way to ensure not only public health security, but also restore economic sectors affected by the crisis. In this context, the Government of Ukraine had reached out to the Government of India for support.
Given India and Ukraine’s multifaceted and strong bilateral relations, the Embassy of India in Ukraine, with the support of the Government of India, has facilitated the supply of vaccines to Ukraine in February, in order to initiate Ukraine’s public vaccination drive. Ukraine is one of the early countries to receive vaccine from India in February.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a personal request to Prime Minister Modi. In addition, sustained efforts by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in collaboration with the Ambassador of India in Ukraine Partha Satpathy have ensured that necessary agreements and permissions could be concluded on time for supply the first tranche of vaccines- 500,000 doses of Astra-Zeneca and Serum Institute of India developed COVISHIELD vaccine.
Going forward, larger quantities of Made in India vaccines are expected to be supplied as production is ramped up in India. There is regular contact between the Governments of Ukraine and India, and with vaccine manufacturers, to secure more vaccines for Ukraine. This supply of vaccine is another exemplar of the major role played by Indian pharmaceutical industry in ensuring the health security of Ukraine.
Pictures:
Ambassador’s meeting with Health Minister Maksym Stepanov
