KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine hopes to double the eight million COVID-19 vaccine doses guaranteed under the global COVAX scheme, set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
“Eight million doses we are guaranteed to receive through the global COVAX mechanism. We are also working to increase supply through COVAX to 16 million doses,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
The presidential office said on Wednesday Ukraine had signed a contract to buy 1.8 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine, with the shots expected in the shortest possible time.
The health ministry said the volume was around 1.9 million doses.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said this month the first shots could arrive in February.
Coronavirus infections in Ukraine began rising in September and have been consistently high ever since, triggering several national lockdowns.
A total of 1,055,047 coronavirus cases have been registered in Ukraine with 18,533 deaths.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Nick Macfie)
