Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk has instructed Ukrainian governors to conduct an audit of vaccine storages and report to the Ministry of Health.
"Vaccinations should prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases, rather than liquidate them. Timely vaccination is a matter of collective safety because when nine out of ten people have been vaccinated, the risk of getting sick is much lower. We clearly specified in the Government’s Action Program that in five years, 95% of Ukrainians must be vaccinated. That's the way it works in all countries. It should be the same in Ukraine," Honcharuk said during a conference call on health issues.
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The head of government stressed that there is a sufficient amount of vaccines to cover all citizens. For the third year in a row, UNICEF has been procuring for budget funds a sufficient amount of vaccines for each region. They are delivered on time to provide for scheduled vaccinations.
According to the prime minister, the issue is an inadequate condition of refrigerators where vaccines are stored in certain regions. About 20% of refrigeration equipment was purchased before 2000.
Also, all heads of regional state administrations were invited to start a wide promotion campaign on the benefits of vaccination and threats of infectious diseases due to the low vaccination levels.
