UNICEF is shipping another 473,850 doses of Pfizer vaccine to Ukraine within COVAX

Today, UNICEF delivered 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from COVID-19 to Ukraine as part of a new supply in the framework of the COVAX Facility.

In total, during this and early next week, Ukraine will receive 473,850 doses of Pfizer vaccine - free of charge under COVAX.

COVAX Facility is a result of the unprecedented solidarity of the international community to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries. Deliveries will continue and by the end of 2021, as part of the Facility, Ukraine is expected to receive enough vaccines from various manufacturers to protect up to 20% of the population from COVID.

Ukraine receives all vaccines within COVAX free of charge. On behalf of COVAX, procures and supplies only COVID-19 vaccines that meet WHO safety and efficacy criteria. 

“UNICEF is grateful to partners and donors who are helping to make COVID-19 vaccination more accessible in Ukraine. Thanks to the support of colleagues from WHO, the governments of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and other donors, more and more people in Ukraine receive protection from such a dangerous infection as COVID-19. We thank the healthcare professionals of Ukraine who are relentlessly fighting to save the lives of their patients, and hope that vaccination will help ease strain on the healthcare system - will protect you and your patients from severe illness, complications, hospitalization, need for oxygen support or death. Please get vaccinated yourself and encourage patients, friends and relatives to do so as soon as they get an opportunity - this is lifesaving,” said Lotta Sylwander, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine.

“Ensuring equitable access to vaccines requires extraordinary measures and global collaboration, and we are thankful to all COVAX supporters who made the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines possible through the COVAX mechanism. The more vaccines are delivered to Ukraine via COVAX, the more people from priority groups we can reach, and the sooner we protect people from severe illness or death from COVID-19. Together with the full new batch, the overall amount of the vaccines received through COVAX reached 2,137,500 doses (Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca). It’s good that vaccination in Ukraine is gaining momentum, and vaccines are really life-saving, but vaccination alone is not a guarantee against transferring COVID-19 to others. So please continue to wear masks, keep physically distance and avoid crowds, especially during the upcoming summer holidays,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, the WHO Representative and Head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine. 

Earlier, under COVAX, Ukraine received 590,850 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 1,072,800 doses of AstraZeneca.

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in partnership with UNICEF as key implementing partner, as well as civil society organisations, vaccine manufacturers, governments of US, UK, European Union, World Bank, and others.