President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy notes that currently there are no grounds for suspending the use of Covishield vaccine in the country, and at the same time work is underway to supply other vaccines to Ukraine. He stated this at a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, who is on an official visit to Ukraine.
Answering a journalist's question about the suspension of the use of AstraZeneca by some European countries, Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for relying on facts, not disinformation.
He stressed that currently there is a serious information resistance in the world to Covishield, which is the most affordable vaccine.
"Belgium, the United States, Great Britain, Poland and Australia have not stopped vaccinating with AstraZeneca. There is no evidence of the number of deaths in the world linked to AstraZeneca vaccine, and this is officially stated by the World Health Organization," said the President of Ukraine.
The Head of State reminded that Ukraine currently has only Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which is produced by the Indian Serum Institute and has a local (trade) name Covishield. About 90,000 people have been vaccinated with it to date, and there are no fatal cases.
"I was vaccinated with this vaccine myself, now I am standing in front of you, I feel normal," the President said.
"At the level of Ukraine, so far I see no reason to reduce vaccination with AstraZeneca. I also did not receive this information from our Ministry of Health," he added.
The Head of State said that the Ukrainian authorities are currently taking measures to increase the number of vaccines against COVID-19.
"We are waiting for the delivery of the vaccine of our Chinese partner at the end of March, and we are also waiting for the signing and receipt of the deadlines from the vaccine supplier Pfizer. We understand that the situation is difficult all over the world. That's why we get everything we can to vaccinate the Ukrainian population. And our doctors do everything very professionally and very carefully," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
