Vaccinated and open. National competition for schools getting vaccinated against COVID-19 launched in Ukraine

Kyiv, 20 August 2021 – The Ministry of Health, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine and Citrus, an electronics store, are announcing a national competition for schools “Vaccinated and open”.

Schools can win valuable gifts if they have at least 80% of their personnel fully vaccinated:

• 3 super-prizes: sets of 10 computers, 10 headsets and 10 routers for each winning school.
• 15 mini-prizes: sets of 10 headsets and a router for each winning school.

To participate in the competition, any school representative can register their school online:cutt.ly/IQNTKQ3. The registration will be open till 11:59 pm, 29 of September. The ceremony to select and announce the winners will take place on 3 October 2021, the Teacher’s Day. 

“The spread of the Delta strain and the raise of COVID‑19 cases are expected in Ukraine. In the regions that will move to the yellow, orange or red levels of epidemic safety, only those schools will be able to open and function normally where at least 80% of the staff are fully vaccinated,” said Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko.

Vaccination of educators against COVID-19 started in April for those teachers who were participating in 2021 independent external testing campaign. In May, the vaccination campaign was expanded to all educators who volunteered to get vaccinated. Today, only 35% of educators received the first dose of vaccination against COVID-19. This means that most schools and other educational institutions have to close with the new wave of pandemics.

“The past school year has shown that distance learning is a test for children, their parents and teachers. The schools have to be aware that they can only prepare for a new outbreak by vaccinating their staff. Therefore, we urge educators to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, because vaccinated teachers mean open school.

“The school year is about to begin. Everyone is interested in keeping Ukrainian schools open – children, parents, teachers. The main goal of the competition we launched today is to encourage educators around the country to make that possible,” said Murat Sahin, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine. “I also encourage every teacher to get vaccinated against COVID-19. I got vaccinated – we know that vaccines work. Let’s make sure that our education is uninterrupted and our schools are safe for every child”

To encourage educators to get vaccinated and protect themselves from COVID-19, a competition is launched not just for the vaccinated people, but for entire teams.

“I believe that the key award for all vaccinated staff of schools is the health and safety of teachers and students, as well as the opportunity to work offline. Today, the best school is the one that is open and safe. It is a great honour for us to join the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and motivate responsible educators with gifts,” said Vadym Lysiuk, Citrus CEO.

All contestants will receive certificates of participation, as well as guaranteed prizes for advertising the competition through their social networks under the hashtag #ВакцинованіВідкриті (#VaccinatedOpen).

Details of participation and registration for the competition are available at: cutt.ly/IQNTKQ3.

It is planned to expand the audience of the competition. Please, follow the web pages of the organizers to know more. If you want to join prize fund, please contact: mmelkova@unicef.org.

The competition is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Background information

COVID-19 vaccination is a safe and effective way to get protected against severe COVID-19 and hospitalization. As the educators contact large numbers of people on a daily basis, they are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Therefore, all schools can organize vaccinations of volunteering staff by inviting a mobile immunization team. In addition, educators can be vaccinated at the nearest mass vaccination centre. Expert answers to educators’ questions about vaccinations are available in the Q&A of the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine: bit.ly/education_vaccination.The detailed algorithm for registering educators for vaccination against COVID-19 is available at: bit.ly/33WeIiN.