Ukraine has signed contract to buy 1.8 million doses of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, the presidential office said on Wednesday, with the shots expected in “the shortest possible time”, Reuters reports.
“We conducted very active, multi-month negotiations and got a concrete result,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was quoted by his office as saying.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said this month the first shots could arrive in February.
He also said the government hoped to receive the first batch of eight million doses of vaccines under the global COVAX facility, set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries, in March.
One dose of the Sinovac vaccine will cost 504 hryvnias (around $18), the presidential office said, adding that the it would be supplied independently of COVAX.
Coronavirus infections in Ukraine began rising in September and have been consistently high ever since, triggering several national lockdowns.
The government this month said it would introduce tight restrictions in January, closing schools, cafes, restaurants, gyms and entertainment centres.
