On April 16, 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived in Ukraine, shipped via the COVAX Facility, an initiative for global access to COVID-19 vaccines, the Ukrainian government reported.
It will be enough to vaccinate 58,000 people because the vaccines need to be administered twice.
The first injections will take place on April 18 in nursing homes for the elderly and social workers, followed by employees of the State Emergency Service and Ukraine’s border guards.
This is the first COVAX delivery to Ukraine but vaccines’ delivery under COVAX is expected to reach up to 20% of the Ukrainian population by the end of 2021, according to UNICEF.
“More vaccines will be delivered to Ukraine as part of the COVAX Facility and UNICEF continues to support the government of Ukraine to protect people from detrimental effects of COVID-19 on lives and economy,” Lotta Sylwander, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine wrote in the UNICEF press release on April 16.
Separately, Ukraine signed a contract with Pfizer to buy 10 million doses, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Twitter on April 6. There is no indication as to when that supply will arrive.
The Pfizer delivery is a significant addition to the 715,000 doses that Ukraine got so far: 500,000 doses of Covishield/AstraZeneca vaccine and 215,000 doses of Coronavac, a vaccine produced by the Chinese company Sinovac.
Since Ukraine started the vaccination campaign on Feb. 24, only 432,817 people have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Only five Ukrainians have received the second dose so far — a dismal record when compared to other European states.
The vaccination campaign has been struggling to pick up pace due to difficult logistics and disinformation-fueled distrust. According to Bloomberg, at this pace, it might take Ukraine 10 years to get 75% of its population vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is 91% effective in preventing the disease and 100% effective against the latest South African coronavirus variant.
The company also says that its vaccine is 100% effective in preventing the disease among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years old.
Zelensky signed a decree on April 4 that orders the development of a national plan for vaccination of most adults against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.
Ukraine is expecting 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India. However, the delivery is at risk, since India temporarily halted its exports because of the country’s own demand for vaccines.
Ukraine is currently experiencing its third and worst coronavirus wave with record-breaking daily numbers of new cases and deaths. Most hospitals are at over 70% capacity. Ten out of 24 regions, plus the capital, are currently under lockdown.
