U.S. pharmaceutical Pfizer will provide 10 million doses COVID-19 vaccine to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Twitter on April 6.
Zelensky thanked the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, for “keeping his word and doing everything he could to help the citizens of Ukraine.”
The head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak added that cooperation with American pharmaceutical companies will continue and expand, according to the official press release.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is 91% effective in preventing the disease and 100% effective against the latest South African coronavirus strain.
The company also says that its vaccine is 100% effective in preventing the disease among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years old.
Zelensky signed a decree on April 4 that orders the development of a national plan for vaccination of most adults against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.
A little more than a month into the immunization campaign, only 290,566 people have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Only two Ukrainians have received the second dose so far.
The vaccination campaign has been struggling to pick up pace due to difficult logistics and disinformation-fueled distrust. According to Bloomberg, at this pace, it might take Ukraine 10 years to get 75% of its population vaccinated.
Ukraine is expecting 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India. However, the delivery is at risk, since India temporarily halted its exports because of the country’s own demand for vaccines.
The Ukrainian government has already received 215,000 doses of the Chinese-made vaccine CoronaVac but it has not started to implement them as it needs to be approved by the Ukrainian government and the World Health Organization.
Ukraine is currently experiencing its third and worst coronavirus wave with record-breaking daily numbers of new cases and deaths. Most hospitals are at over 70% capacity. Ten out of 24 regions, plus the capital, are currently under lockdown.
Read also: Everything to know about current state of vaccination campaign in Ukraine
