The Ukrainian government on the night of Jan. 29 rolled out the schedule for state-funded COVID-19 vaccination in 2021.
The schedule envisions vaccinating 14.4 million Ukrainians in 2021, including essential workers and elderly Ukrainians.
According to the plan, the following categories will be offered a free COVID-19 vaccine in 2021:
- In February-April — the staff of the COVID-19 wards and military at the front lines of the war in eastern Ukraine (367,000 people);
- In April-May — primary health care staff and Ukrainians ages 80 and older (1.9 million);
- In May-June — the remaining medical staff (363,000);
- In June-July — Ukrainians ages 70-79 (2.9 million);
- In July-August — the staff of state security agencies (640,000);
- In August-September — Ukrainians ages 65-69 (2.3 million);
- In September-October — the staff of schools and other education facilities (1.4 million);
- In October-November — Ukrainians ages 60-64 (2.8 million);
- In November-December — unspecified other categories (1.7 million).
The plan is optimistic, given that Ukraine will get its first batch of vaccines, which will include 100,000 to 200,000 doses, in mid-February.
As of now, Ukraine has funds and pledged vaccines to vaccinate only 10 million people in 2021. However, the plan covers 14.4 million people.
Read also: Everything to know about COVID vaccination in Ukraine (EXPLAINER)
Earlier, the Ukrainian government set its vaccination goal at 21 million people — or roughly half the population. The number includes members of all risk groups: essential workers, senior citizens, and people with underlying medical conditions.
As of Jan. 29, Ukraine had 185,773 active cases of coronavirus. More than 22,000 people have died since the start of the pandemic, and more than 1 million have recovered.
On Jan. 29, a study by an Australian think tanks put Ukraine among the countries with the worst COVID-19 response.
