Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko has responded to an earlier statement by Vladimir Putin's main political operative in Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, who claimed that the Russian COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Sputnik-V, had been filed for registration in Ukraine.
"Ukraine will only use vaccines that have successfully passed the third phase of clinical trials. Therefore, all rumors and political statements about the state registration of the Russian vaccine candidate in Ukraine do not correspond to reality," he stressed.
The global market is already offering vaccines approved for use through the emergency use authorization. For such type of authorization, interim clinical trial reports have been used
Read alsoCOVID-19 vaccines bought by government will be free for all Ukrainians"Based on this, Ukraine has decided on the possibility of authorizing vaccines registered in countries with a strict regulatory policy," he said.
According to the open-source data, the third phase of clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine is set to complete in December 2021.
Vaccines for Ukraine: Background
In March, the first batch with 8 million doses of a vaccine is expected to be shipped to Ukraine under the COVAX Facility. These doses are enough to vaccinate 4 million people, because one person needs two shots of the vaccine. Doctors, senior citizens, and seriously ill patients will get vaccinated first.
On December 24, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that his ministry was working out a plan to increase the vaccine quota as part of the COVAX global initiative from 8 million to 16 million doses.
On December 22, Ukraine's Health Ministry approved a plan for vaccination of the population against COVID-19. The goal of this plan is to vaccinate at least 50% of the population of Ukraine (20 million people) in 2021-2022.
On December 30, the Ukrainian Health Ministry signed a contract for the supply of China's Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine to Ukraine. The purchase provides for 1,913,316 doses at UAH 504 (US$18) per dose. China plans to obtain permission to use the vaccine inside the country and abroad in January next year, and the vaccine will also be submitted for retraining to the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2021.
The contract for supplies to the territory of Ukraine has been signed with Lekhim JSC, which, according to official confirmations from Sinovac Biotech, is the only authorized representative of the vaccine manufacturer in Ukraine.
Under the terms of the contract, the first batch of 700,000 doses will be delivered to Ukraine within 30 days after official registration in China, or by one of the competent authorities of the United States, Great Britain, the Swiss Confederation, Japan, Australia, Canada, Israel, India, Mexico, Brazil, or under a centralized procedure by the competent authority of the European Union.
On December 31, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov and representatives of the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca have discussed the deadlines and logistics of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 is part of hybrid warfare against Ukraine.
