Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba states that the dates of deliveries by a number of countries of an excess of their coronavirus vaccines to Ukraine have been delayed due to the disruption of the schedule for their receipt by the relevant members of the European Union.
He announced this at a joint briefing with his Slovenian counterpart Anze Logar in Kyiv, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
“We had negotiations and agreements with some EU countries since last year that they will share the vaccine with Ukraine. Specific agreements have been reached. But the schedule for the supply of vaccines to these EU countries themselves was essentially disrupted. Accordingly, the dates when these countries can share with us the surplus of vaccines have moved," he said.
At the same time, Kuleba recalled that getting the vaccine through such channels is one of the options.
He noted that Ukraine is more focused on concluding contracts directly with manufacturers.
Answering the question about the liberalization of the vaccine market, the minister assured that Ukraine supports wider access of citizens to high-quality and safe vaccines, regardless of which company produced them.
The exception, he said, is Sputnik, which Russia has turned into an instrument of political influence.
Logar confirmed the shortage and demand for vaccines around the world and stressed the importance of their equitable distribution among countries.
He recalled that Ukraine is included in the global initiative for the distribution of vaccines Covax.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on February 24, vaccination against coronavirus with the AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccine started in Ukraine.
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