Minister Liashko: COVID-19 vaccination has saved about 18,000 lives.

COVID-19 vaccination has saved about 18,000 lives in Ukraine.

"According to mathematical modeling data, vaccination has saved 18,000 lives in Ukraine. The same number of our compatriots died of coronavirus disease in the first year of the pandemic," Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko said during an hour of questions to the Government at the Verkhovna Rada, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Now, according to the official, half of the adult population has received one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 47% – two doses, and almost a third of a million have received an additional or booster dose.

According to him, the vaccination strategy for 2022 will be booster vaccination for those who received a basic vaccination course in 2021 as well as the use of triple vaccination – a basic vaccination course and a booster dose for new patients.

Liashko stressed that there would be no interruptions in the supply of vaccines.

According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Health Minister Viktor Liashko and the Ministry of Health team are working almost day and night to fight the coronavirus.

"The health minister is doing everything possible to ensure that Ukrainians have the opportunity to be vaccinated, protected against the coronavirus. The work of the minister and the entire Ministry, as well as all Ukrainian physicians today, is absolutely 24/7,” Shmyhal said.

As reported, according to the Ministry of Health, there are now about 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Ukraine. As previously stated by minister Liashko, Ukraine has contracted 25 million Pfizer doses and 6.5 million CoronaVac doses for 2022. It is also expected that 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses will be delivered during the year under the COVAX Facility.

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