MOSCOW, Dec 20: Ukrainian citizens cannot understand why their country is turning away from Russian coronavirus vaccines when western countries are refusing to supply them with the treatment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times.
“Of course, it is impossible to explain to Ukrainian society why, when America and Europe are not giving you vaccines, you shouldn’t take vaccines from Russia,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader added that he was preparing for an “information war” on the issue.
The New York Times said on Saturday that Zelenskyy was frustrated with the new executive order of US President Donald Trump, which temporarily bans the export of vaccines against COVID-19.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order to prioritize domestic distribution of COVID-19 vaccines over their shipments to foreign countries.
Before the executive order, Ukraine had been in talks with Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to speed up delivery of coronavirus vaccines. According to The New York Times, Ukraine will now have to wait for the first commercial vaccine shipments that are to come months later than expected.
Last weekend, Viktor Liashko, the Ukrainian deputy health minister and chief state sanitary doctor, announced that the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX), led by the World Health Organization (WHO), had approved Kiev’s vaccine request.
In late November, Ukrainian Health Minister Maxym Stepanov said that the country was expecting to receive the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in the first half of 2021.
(AGENCIES)
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