The President of the European Commission called on EU member states to donate part of their stock of coronavirus vaccines to Ukraine.
“In addition to Covax, I have also asked our member states to donate some of their doses to Ukraine,” said Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, in a video address at a conference in Kiev on Monday.
Covax is an initiative to provide fair 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 this month. Millions of other doses will reach Ukraine by the summer, “said von der Leyen.” We will only stop the pandemic if we control the virus in all our countries. We Europeans are all together in this, ”she added.
The EU has been criticized for its approach to vaccine roll-out across the continent. Von der Leyen did not elaborate on what the donations to Ukraine – a non-EU country – would mean for the bloc.
More about Ukraine: Ukraine has about 40 million inhabitants. It awaits delivery of eight million vaccine doses promised under the United Nations Covax program, and up to five million doses of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine. The country will begin the first phase of its Covid-19 vaccination program this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced at the conference.
The 43-year-old leader, who experienced mild symptoms of the coronavirus last year, said he was ready to get vaccinated to encourage others to do the same.
“As with most world leaders, I am willing to show people by personal example that vaccination is important, it is safe and it is necessary,” said Zelensky.
Ukraine has recorded more than 1.2 million cases and more than 23,000 deaths from Covid-19.