Ukraine’s Health Minister Maksym Stepanov lashed out at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), during his morning briefing on Feb. 16, accusing it of trying to disrupt the COVID-19 vaccination that is about to begin in Ukraine.
Stepanov’s reaction comes after the NABU opened an investigation earlier in February into the alleged embezzlement committed by the health ministry officials during the procurement of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The investigation looks into the ministry’s choice of a Ukrainian company that it’s using as an intermediary to buy 1.9 million doses of the vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese company.
The NABU opened the investigation after receiving a complaint that accused Stepanov of illicit interfering in the procurement process and lobbying for a specific company to be an intermediary. This increased the price of the vaccines for Ukraine, according to the complaint that the Kyiv Post obtained from its sources.
Stepanov denies the accusations, saying that they “do not make any sense.”
“I am sure that this is one of the tools of the information war that is being purposefully waged against me and my team in the ministry for 11 months,” he said.
According to Stepanov, such accusations make Ukraine lose the trust of the world-known COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers and “opens the way” for the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which is not registered in Ukraine.
“It is a purely political solution to their narrow political affairs — it is an attempt to disrupt the vaccination campaign in Ukraine,” Stepanov said.
Vaccine producers had started to refuse to cooperate with Ukraine, Stepanov said, without naming any specific companies.
Stepanov appears to have the support of the Cabinet and even President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office in this matter.
On Feb. 15, the Cabinet of Ministers has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill that seeks to fire Artem Sytnyk, the head of NABU.
Anti-corruption activists see the decision to fire Sytnyk as Zelensky’s reaction to a NABU investigation into the vaccine procurement. A Kyiv Post source in the NABU, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that before the bill was submitted, Zelensky called Sytnyk and harshly criticized the vaccine investigation.
Read more: Sources: Zelensky may be behind Cabinet bill to fire NABU head
The NABU didn’t back off, though. On Feb. 16, the Health Ministry received the requirement from the NABU to provide information on all negotiations with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Stepanov said during the briefing. He said that the ministry will provide the bureau with the requested documents within days.
During the same briefing, Stepanov said that the supply of the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine, expected early in the week, was delayed by several days due to the “logistic issues.”
While the numerous world countries started vaccinating their citizens in mid-December, Ukraine plans to start it in February.
The country is to receive 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this month, followed by up to 3.7 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine within six months. Medical workers who treat COVID-19 and front-line troops in eastern Ukraine will be the first in line for a free vaccination.
Earlier on Feb. 13, Viktor Lyashko, chief sanitary doctor and deputy health minister, said that the first batch of the vaccine will arrive in Ukraine this week and the country will start vaccination immediately.
Read more: Everything to know about COVID vaccination in Ukraine
