U.S. Chargé d’affaires in Ukraine Kristina Kvien said the United States will provide new assistance to Ukraine in obtaining and distributing coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, which are due to arrive in Ukraine within weeks, the embassy’s press service said.
“With the mass vaccine rollout taking place in the immediate future – something that is extremely complex and ambitious – I am pleased to announce that the United States is going to provide new support to receive and distribute the first 117,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine delivered to Ukraine from the Covax Facility,” Kvien said on Feb. 8.
The embassy said that the new assistance would help Ukrainian health authorities ensure the vaccine can be securely stored and transported at the freezing temperatures required for the Pfizer’s vaccine. With no existing capacity to manage vaccines at these temperatures within the public sector, Ukraine needed support to arrange the logistics very rapidly, Kvien said.
According to the statement, USAID assistance will enable contracting with a logistics firm to support the Ministry of Health in receiving, storing, and transporting the first doses of the vaccine throughout the country.
