President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that vaccination against COVID-19 in Ukraine should be free. He discussed this aspect of immunization scheduled to begin in February with Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov.
"Vaccination against COVID-19 in Ukraine will be free. This is exactly the care, the protection the state must provide to the citizen during the pandemic affecting the whole world. I don't know how much the vaccine will cost in private hospitals, but for most Ukrainians, this prevention can cost a bundle. And the vaccine against COVID-19 is not what the state should make money at,” the President stressed.
The Minister of Health added that the vaccination plan envisages the provision of services free of charge to all, and vulnerable groups will be the first to receive vaccination.
"Soon we will present and explain in detail the plan on how to get the COVID-19 vaccine. We will vaccinate doctors and mobile groups first. The elderly are among the priority groups, of course. We are also actively and efficiently working within the COVAX initiative. Given the capacity of how many people we will be able to vaccinate in a month, we have an even distribution of public funds. And they will be enough to cover all the needs for vaccination," Maksym Stepanov assured.
At the same time, the Head of State supports the development of the market so that Ukrainians who have the money can be vaccinated against COVID-19 on their own. Immunization will be voluntary. However, both the President and the Ministry of Health hope that Ukrainians will pay attention to their health, understand the challenges and adhere to the vaccination plan.
"We always have disputes even about already known vaccines. But this time it's not just about national programs, it's about a global program to protect the population in every corner of the globe. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is not simply to protect yourself and get rid of annoying masks. It is also a concern for the whole of humanity, it is a contribution to the return to normal life and restoration of world communications," the President said.
Maksym Stepanov assured that the vaccines will be tested many times, Ukrainians will be offered high-quality vaccines that will be stored in proper conditions.