Ukraine: Health workers hail vaccination drive as COVID overwhelms its health care system

Ukrainian health workers have welcomed the COVID-19 immunization drive in the country hoping that it would bring much-needed relief. Ukraine kick-started its vaccination drive on February 25, targeting to inoculate its key health workers and military personnel battling Russian forces in the first schedule. The health ministry aims to immunize nearly 367,000 people by the end of April and about 35 per cent of its 41 million residents by the end of this year, Kyiv Post reported.

On Wednesday, Yevgeny Gorenko, an intensive care specialist became the first Ukrainian to receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine jab, that had arrived from India earlier this week. Hailing the vaccination, he later told the Associated Press that it was better to prevent infections “than to treat the complications of the disease later". Another frontline health worker, Vitaly Akubyak, who works as a hospital anesthesiologist in the western city of Kolomyya said that the country was currently facing the “strongest wave of COVID-19”.

Vaccination schedule

According to the country’s health ministry, the first tranche of the vaccines would be administered to the medical workers and military personnel in the Eastern part of the country. Additionally, the vaccination drive would also focus on the western part of the country, where a recent outbreak has wreaked havoc. According to the Associated Press, the city of Ivano Frankivsk, where lockdown was lifted last month, has witnessed a sudden influx of patients. This has prompted authorities to build a makeshift hospital in case of emergency.

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Ukraine, which is engaged in a local battle with Russia, has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic. Not only has it’s economic situation has depreciated, the country’s health facilities are also struggling to sail through the pandemic. Since the outbreak, the country has reported a total of  1,311,844 cases and 25,309 fatalities. Apart from the shipment from India, the country is also set to receive vaccines from China, with which it inked a deal to secure 1.9 million Sinovac vaccine shots. 

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While Ukraine is stepping up attempts to procure vaccine doses, it is strictly against getting it from Russia. Last month, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that he is against the use of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine 'Sputnik V' due to Moscow's "propaganda factor”. 

Read: Ukraine Gets First Vaccine Shipment From India As Hospitals Struggle To Contain COVID-19

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(With inputs from Associated Press)