The Health Ministry started accepting online applications from Ukrainians willing to get free jabs against the novel coronavirus on March 1.
The applications are primarily for people who don’t belong to high-priority groups for vaccination. They will be put on the waiting list.
Ukraine started vaccinating its population on Feb. 24, the day after it had received its first 500,000 doses of the vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca and produced by India’s Serum Institute.
There are several ways to book a place in the vaccination queue.
One is to visit the website https://diia.gov.ua or to use the Diia (Дія) mobile application. The Ministry of Digital Transformation developed this software in February 2020 to provide Ukrainians with quick access to digital documents like driver’s licenses or biometric passports. Now Diia serves as a tool to register for vaccination, too.
Another option is to call the Health Ministry’s hotline: 0 800 60 20 19.
When it is your turn, the ministry will send a notification offering to pick the time and place of your appointment.
The ministry approved a five-stage plan to vaccinate Ukraine’s population based on age, profession and preexisting health conditions.
The online registration isn’t required for those who are considered high-priority groups — they will be offered the vaccine regardless.
The high-priority groups include people employed in healthcare, education and social work, employees and residents of senior care facilities, as well as the military and security forces.
Everyone else can sign up for the waiting list.
Just over 3,000 Ukrainians have received their first dose of the vaccine, most of whom are medics. Health Minister Maksym Stepanov got his jab on March 1.
Health Minister Maksym Stepanov receives the first part of the COVID-19 vaccine in Kyiv on March 1, 2021. (Health Ministry)
According to Stepanov, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will get his dose next, together with Ukrainian soldiers. On March 2, Zelensky will travel to the Donbas front line to meet with the Ukrainian military and is likely to get vaccinated there.
Who gets the vaccine first?
Front-line troops in the Donbas and medical workers who treat COVID-19 patients will be the first to get the vaccine. The authorities aim to vaccinate 367,000 people from this first priority group by the end of April.
As of March 1, medical workers vaccinated 208 soldiers serving on the front line, including 178 paramedics.
The second wave of vaccination will include people aged 80 and older and emergency medical workers. They will be vaccinated by May.
At the beginning of summer, other medical workers will receive their shots. Next in line are people aged 70-79 years and employees of state security agencies, who will get their shots by August.
By December, authorities aim to vaccinate people between the ages of 60-69, employees of educational institutions and people with preexisting chronic illnesses that make them vulnerable to coronavirus.
As many as 58,000 Ukrainians from risk groups are looking forward to the vaccine and have already signed up for free vaccination, according to Lyashko.
In total, Ukrainian authorities aim to vaccinate 14.4 million people by the end of 2021.
Thirteen million adults from the lowest-priority group will be vaccinated last.
Will Ukraine vaccinate foreigners?
Ukraine will provide free vaccines only to migrants who have Ukrainian citizenship or asylum, the press secretary of the Health Ministry told the Kyiv Post.
Foreign citizens living in Ukraine, including those with residency permits, will have to request the vaccine from their insurance companies if they cover it or pay to be vaccinated at a private clinic.
The vaccine is expected to become commercially available in the summer of 2021, according to the Health Ministry.
Lekhim, a Ukrainian pharmaceutical company, signed a distribution contract with the Chinese vaccine producer Sinovac Biotech. In January, the company announced it would import 5 million doses of Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine for commercial use in April-May.
It is unclear how much the vaccine will cost for consumers who want to buy it in Ukraine.
More vaccine to come
Altogether, Ukraine expects to receive around 22 million doses in 2021, according to Stepanov. He said this will be enough to cover the 14 million people the Ministry aims to vaccinate by the end of the year. Every person needs two jabs for maximum effectiveness.
Ukraine will get the vaccine from various sources.
One is COVAX, the global coronavirus vaccine alliance, which is giving Ukraine 8 million doses for free. However, Ukraine is likely to receive only half of that by the end of 2021.
In the short term, COVAX will provide Ukraine with 100,000 doses of the American-German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The initiative will also provide Ukraine with 4 million doses of some other vaccine by the end of the year.
The second source is the Chinese producer Sinovac Biotech, which sold Ukraine 1.9 million doses of the vaccine. According to Stepanov, the first batch of the vaccine, 700,000 doses, will arrive in Ukraine by March 6.
Ukraine contracted to purchase 17 million doses from India’s Serum Institute, including 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 15 million doses of the American NovaVax vaccine.
