Habicht: Ukraine can count on access to Pfizer, AstraZeneca in first half of the year

“There is an ambitious goal within COVAX Facility: to distribute two billion doses, including doses for Ukraine, by the end of 2021. Ukraine can count on access to two types of vaccines – Pfizer and AstraZeneca – in the first half of the year,” Head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine Dr Jarno Habicht said in an interview with the Novoe Vremya media outlet.

According to Habicht, more than 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca will be available to Ukraine by the end of May, and the final stage of negotiations between the Ukrainian Government, COVAX and vaccine manufacturers is underway to ensure supplies to the country as soon as possible.

The Head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine confirmed that “the first and the only global vaccination compensation mechanism has been established for COVID-19 vaccination, and it is designed for vaccines that are supplied, distributed and used under the COVAX Facility. Its purpose is to ensure a transparent, fast and fair system to compensate for serious side effects. The system will start to operate by the end of March this year and will function by the end of June 2022.”

According to Habicht, “WHO works with the Chubb company, a leading insurer, to establish the process of such insurance. By the end of March, a special website will be launched, through which applications will be accepted from citizens in case of any side effects - very serious and related to vaccination.”

As reported, Ukraine has recorded 11,833 new coronavirus cases over the past day, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 1,489,023.

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