The President of the European Commission has asked EU Member States to donate part of their coronavirus vaccine to Ukraine.
“In addition to Covax, we also asked our member states to donate part of their doses to Ukraine,” European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a video address at a conference 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 already this month. Millions of other doses will arrive in Ukraine by summer, “said von der Leyen.” We will stop the pandemic only if we contain the virus in all our countries. We Europeans are all together in this regard, “she added.
The EU has faced criticism for managing the implementation of vaccines across the continent. Von der Leyen did not explain what donations to Ukraine – a non-EU country – would mean for the bloc.
More about Ukraine: Ukraine has a population of about 40 million people. Eight million doses of the promised Covax vaccine and up to five million doses of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine are expected to be delivered. The country will begin the first phase of its Covid-19 inoculation program this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced during the conference.
The 43-year-old leader, who experienced mild symptoms of coronavirus last year, said he was ready to be inoculated to encourage others to do the same.
“Like most world leaders, I am ready to show people by personal example that vaccination is important, it is safe, it is necessary,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine has more than 1.2 million cases and 23,000 deaths caused by Covid-19.