18 March 2021, Thursday, 18:11 155

Zelenskyy Sees No Reason To Refuse AstraZeneca (CoviShield) Coronavirus Vaccine

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sees no reason to refuse the AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccine against coronavirus.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this at a joint news briefing with President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda in Kyiv, answering journalists' questions, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Regarding information related to Covid-19 and misinformation related to vaccines, I would react to the facts. We understand that Belgium, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia and many serious countries of the world have not stopped vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine, including Ukraine. This is a fact. The number of deaths in the world, which is informationally associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, has no evidence. WHO officially says this. This is the second fact," he said.

Zelenskyy added that about 90,000 people have been vaccinated with the CoviShield vaccine in Ukraine and not a single death was recorded.

He also recalled that he himself was vaccinated with this vaccine and assured that he is feeling well.

The head of state believes that information attacks are being carried out regarding this vaccine.

“I don’t know who started this war. But at the level of Ukraine, so far, frankly, I do not see any reason to reduce the vaccination with AstraZeneca. I haven’t received this information from our Ministry of Health either,” he said.

The President also said that Ukraine will soon increase the supply of vaccines.

According to him, a vaccine from Sinovac Biotech (China) is expected by late March, and the final dates for receiving the vaccine from Pfizer will soon be known.

In turn, Nauseda confirmed that Lithuania has recently suspended vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

At the same time, the President assured that if it is restored, he himself is ready to be vaccinated with this particular vaccine.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported, earlier the Office of the President stated that side effects from vaccination against the Covid-19 coronavirus are manifested in 0.8% of cases.