The Ukrainian government rejected a Russian vaccine Sputnik V (whether under pressure from the US embassy or with its support, it makes no difference in principle) and agreed to supply an American-German Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinovac Biotech
So far none of these vaccines have appeared in Ukraine (if we do not count the secret VIP vaccinations). But the Indian vaccine, manufactured under a British license from AstraZeneca by the pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India, is entering the country. A total of 12 million doses of CoviShield and another vaccine candidate, Novavax, made under a US license, are going to be purchased from India.
Indian pharmacists produce the cheapest drugs for developing countries in Asia and Africa, and the “European” Ukraine is now in line with them.
Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov personally travelled to India to negotiate the delivery of a vaccine for the coronavirus. On February 21, the minister cheerfully said: “Today I personally supervised the shipment of the first batch of AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccines from the manufacturing plant in Pune, India. The 500,000 doses of vaccine are on their way to Ukraine and will be distributed among regions according to the Health Ministry’s plan. Now the vaccine is being transported to Mumbai. Next is a long journey by cargo plane with a stopover in Istanbul, and the vaccine will arrive in Ukraine in the next few days.
CoviShield is currently in its third phase of clinical trials and is being used for emergency prophylaxis against COVID-19 in India and several poorer countries. Exact data on the effectiveness of CoviShield is not yet available. It seems that Ukraine is destined to become a testing ground for this vaccine.
True, CoviShield does not require ultra-low temperature transportation and storage.
As conceived by Ukrainian officials, the first 250,000 inoculations with the Indian vaccine will be given to health workers dealing with COVID-19 patients, laboratory staff who diagnose the coronavirus, workers in nursing homes and members of the military. But it is highly doubtful that health workers (many of whom have already had corona) and military personnel will want to be vaccinated with the Indian drug.
Meanwhile, as of 22 February the number of those infected with the coronavirus reached 1.3 million, 2,045 people have died of complications associated with COVID-19.
The worst situation is in the Pre-Carpathian region. The Ivano-Frankivsk region has introduced a special entry and exit regime and deployed checkpoints, including several 24-hour checkpoints, due to a surge in COVID-19 incidence. “For the first time in the entire COVID period, severe oxygen-dependent children were admitted, including two under one year olds. Today, all 120 infectious disease beds are occupied, six intensive care beds are occupied and two more have been deployed,”
Aleksandra Kosovets, head doctor at Horodenka Hospital, said. Drugs to treat the sick have to be collected from pharmacies, they are in short supply.
And while the Ukrainian authorities are waiting for a plane with the CoviShield vaccine, the chairman of the National Medical Chamber of Ukraine, Serhiy Kravchenko, has said that the Ukrainian Health Minister Stepanov is lying. According to him, it is not half a million doses that are flying into the country, but pallets with 41200 vials, which have an expiry date of 23 June.
But this is not the only cause for concern.
Ivan Leshchenko, One Nation