Ukraine has enough funds to purchase COVID-19 vaccines - Shmyhal

He said this in his report in the Verkhovna Rada on the government's implementation of the Verkhovna Rada resolution of October 20, 20202 on measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We'll vaccinate for free everyone who wants to be vaccinated. We thank MPs for allocating sufficient funds – UAH 10 billion - from the state budget. There is an agreement with the World Bank for $90 million, part of which will be spent on vaccines. We will receive another 50 million euros from the European Investment Bank so as to conduct the vaccination," Shmyhal said.

He recalled that under direct contracts with manufacturers, Ukraine should receive 34 million doses of vaccines, and another eight million doses of vaccines are to be delivered through the COVAX Facility. "The plan remains in place: to vaccinate the majority of the adult population by the end of the year," he said.

In particular, together with supplies via COVAX, Ukraine is to receive 21.2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, ten million doses of Novavax vaccine, more than ten million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and almost two million doses of Sinovac vaccine.

Shmyhal also said that in Ukraine, according to opinion polls, the share of citizens who are ready to be vaccinated has increased. "At the beginning of the year, according to various opinion polls, about 30%, a maximum of 40% of Ukrainian citizens were ready to be vaccinated. An April poll by UNICEF showed that 63% of citizens were ready to be vaccinated," he said.

Shmyhal called such an increase in the number of people willing to be vaccinated an achievement for the government.

Vaccination against COVID-19 in Ukraine started on February 24, 2021.

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