Ukraine has refused to purchase the Russian vaccine for COVID-19, the US Embassy in Kiev said on its Facebook page.
According to the diplomatic mission, Charge d'Affaires of the United States in Ukraine Christina Queen held a dinner with the country's Minister of Health Maxim Stepanov, during which the fight against coronavirus and reforms in the health sector were discussed.
“Ukraine will not purchase the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, which has not passed clinical safety tests,” the US embassy said in a statement.
On October 14, the Minister of Health of Ukraine Maxim Stepanov said that Kiev is ready to purchase a vaccine from any manufacturing country, if the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms its effectiveness and safety.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Kiev had decided to abandon the coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia in favor of manufacturers from the European Union and the United States. The chief sanitary doctor of Ukraine Viktor Lyashko criticized the Russian drug. The Opposition Platform – For Life Party said that refusing the Russian vaccine would mean a death sentence for a huge number of Ukrainians.
