The President of the European Commission called on EU Member States to donate part of their supply of the coronavirus vaccine to Ukraine.
“In addition to Covax, I have also asked our member states to donate part of their doses to Ukraine,” said the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a video speech at a conference held in Kiev on Monday.
Covax is an initiative to provide equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines and is led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization.
“Thanks to Covax, doctors and nurses in Ukraine will receive the first vaccines this month. Millions of other doses will arrive in Ukraine by the summer, “said von der Leyen.” We will only stop the pandemic if we contain the virus in all our countries. We Europeans are all in this together ”, he added.
The EU has faced criticism for dealing with vaccine implantation across the continent. Von der Leyen did not elaborate on what the donations to Ukraine – a non-EU country – would mean for the bloc.
More about Ukraine: Ukraine has a population of approximately 40 million people. He is waiting for the delivery of eight million doses of vaccine promised by the United Nations Covax program, and up to five million doses of the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac. The country will begin the first phase of its Covid-19 vaccination program this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced during the conference.
The 43-year-old leader, who experienced mild coronavirus symptoms last year, said he was ready to be vaccinated to encourage others to do the same.
“As with most world leaders, I am ready to show people by personal example that vaccination is important, it is safe, it is necessary,” said Zelensky.
Ukraine recorded more than 1.2 million cases and more than 23,000 deaths from Covid-19.