Shmyhal: Ukrainians will not be vaccinated with Russian Sputnik V

"As for the Russian vaccine. We really do not see a possibility of using Sputnik V in Ukraine today for several reasons. It has not passed the necessary stages of clinical trials. And the second reason is that we definitely cannot use a vaccine produced by the country with which we have the ongoing military conflict," Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said in an interview with the Bild German newspaper, the Government portal reports.

He stressed that the fastest possible vaccination is of global interest - both in terms of public health and in the context of economic recovery.

"We see how the mutated virus, which emerges in some parts of the world, instantly spreads to other countries and regions. Ukraine is negotiating with all global vaccine manufacturers. To date, we have signed preliminary agreements with six of them and three vaccines — AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac — are already registered in Ukraine. In the near future, we expect the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be delivered within the COVAX Facility, in which Germany is one of the world's major donors and the initiator of such an international platform. We are grateful to Germany for participating in this global initiative," Shmyhal emphasized.

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