KYIV, Feb 4 – Ukraine has a clear-cut, stage-by-stage plan for its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which is due to start in February, Viktor Liashko, Ukraine's chief public health official and deputy health minister, said.

COVAX, a global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines, has confirmed the delivery of the first 117,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Ukraine, he said.

"Yes, indeed, the COVAX mechanism has confirmed that 117,000 doses of the mRNA vaccine, the vaccine which is produced by Pfizer and which has been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, will arrive in Ukraine. Later on, Ukraine may again apply to COVAX and receive the Pfizer [vaccine], but it will be the next delivery - in mid-April," Liashko told the Pryamiy television.

Medics working directly with coronavirus patients will be vaccinated in Ukraine first of all, he said.

"Our vaccination roadmap includes these 117,000 vaccine doses, which will be used to vaccine healthcare workers. First and foremost, these are medics and other employees of healthcare establishments, hospitals which treat COVID-19 patients. Ambulance personnel will be vaccinated at the next stage, first of all ambulance switchboard operators and then crews that can be summoned by COVID-19 patients," he said.

Ukraine expects to receive the second batch of a coronavirus vaccine, this time from AstraZeneca, before the end of the second quarter, Liashko said.

"Subsequently, before the end of the second quarter, we expect to receive from 2.5 million to nearly 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is due to get prequalified by the World Health Organization at some point this week. And we are waiting for the health minister to sign contracts already being handled by this international organization, and where they should appear, with regard to budget-funded supplies of the vaccine," he said.

At the same time, Liashko categorically denied the possibility of supplying the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V to Ukraine even if this vaccine passes all stages of trials and is officially approved worldwide.

Liashko also said that now "the authorities do not feel that a new lockdown is needed because of new coronavirus strains reported in the world, in particular the UK variant."

"Let's hope that our forecasts will come true," the official said, adding that the Ukrainian government is drafting a resolution on an adaptive quarantine in the country. (nr/ez)