Kyiv, 18 July 2021 - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) delivered today 2,000,040 doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the American company Moderna, to Ukraine. This batch of vaccines is donated by the US Government through the global COVAX Facility.

According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Moderna vaccines from the newest shipment are to be used for vaccination of professional groups by the mobile brigades.

The aim of the COVAX Facility, an unprecedented example of international community cooperation, is to ensure that all countries, regardless of the level of income, receive equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Deliveries under COVAX will continue and by the end of 2021, Ukraine is expected to receive enough vaccines by various manufacturers to protect up to 20% of the population from COVID, in the framework of the initiative.

https://www.unicef.org/ukraine/en/press-releases/ukraine-receives-2-million-doses-moderna-vaccine-donated-usa-through-covax

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine's president received a coronavirus vaccine shot Tuesday in a bid to dispel widespread public skepticism about vaccination.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy got the AstraZeneca vaccine as he visited the military near the area of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“Vaccine will let us live without restrictions again,” he wrote on Twitter.

Zelenskiy got the shot even though he had the coronavirus in November. His move comes as many medical experts, who have priority to get the vaccine, refuse to receive it.

Ukraine began the immunization effort last week after receiving the first 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from India. It plans to give the shots to 14.4 million people, or about a third of its population.

Overall in the pandemic, Ukraine has recorded more than 1.3 million infections and 26,212 deaths.

Ukraine expects to receive more doses of vaccine through the U.N.-supported COVAX distribution program, including those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax. The country also signed an agreement to purchase 1.9 million doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ukraines-leader-vaccine-shot-dispel-public-doubts-76208269

>>15865766

Article is March 2021

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-ukraine

>>15865835

On February 12, 2022, in light of recent geopolitical tensions involving Ukraine, the Department of State issued a Level 4 Travel Advisory, warning individuals not to travel to Ukraine and recommending that individuals in Ukraine depart immediately via commercial or private means. On February 15, 2022, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), determined that it is in the national interest to temporarily permit the entry of noncitizen nonimmigrants who (1) are traveling with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; (2) were physically present in Ukraine as of February 10, 2022; and (3) possess valid travel documents allowing them to travel to the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that, based on a request from the U.S. Department of State and consistent with the determination made by the Secretary of Homeland Security, it will extend the exercise of its enforcement discretion regarding certain aspects of its “Amended Order: Requirement for Proof of Negative COVID-19 Test Result or Recovery from COVID-19 for All Airline Passengers Arriving into the United States,” and its “Amended Order Implementing Presidential Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” effective immediately. This exercise of enforcement discretion is limited to the following groups of individuals, to the extent they were physically present in Ukraine as of February 10, 2022: U.S. citizens; lawful permanent residents; noncitizens in possession of a valid U.S. immigrant visa; as well as noncitizen nonimmigrants who are traveling with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and possess valid travel documents allowing them to travel to the United States (collectively, “covered persons”). This exercise of enforcement discretion will enter into effect immediately and will now expire on April 1, 2022, at 2359 ET, subject to any further extensions, consistent with the action of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/ukraine

Article October 2021

Ukraine and Russia reported record-high COVID-19 infections and deaths on Friday for the second day in a row.

Authorities in Ukraine said there were 23,785 new infections in the past 24 hours and 614 people died in the country.

The authorities in the former Soviet republic have struggled to obtain vaccines against COVID-19.

Vaccine hesitancy is also high in the country of 41 million people.

Four vaccines (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and CoronaVac) are available in Ukraine. Just 16% of the population has so far been fully vaccinated while 20% have received at least one dose, according to a tally kept by Our World In Data.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/10/22/ukraine-has-record-high-covid-infection-and-death-toll-for-second-consecutive-day

Article March 2021

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After receiving its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine, Ukraine found itself in a new struggle against the pandemic — persuading its widely reluctant people to get the shot.

Although infections are rising sharply, Ukrainians are becoming increasingly opposed to vaccination: an opinion poll released earlier this month by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found 60% of the country’s people don’t want to get vaccinated, up from 40% a month earlier. The nationwide poll of 1,207 had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

The resistance appears to be rooted in longstanding suspicion of vaccines dating back to the Soviet era, amplified by politicians’ allegations about low-quality vaccines, corruption scandals and misinformation spread through social media. Even more surprisingly, the reluctance still appears even among those highest at risk who administer lifesaving drugs to others every day: medical workers.

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-wide-resistance-coronavirus-vaccines-9c5905221f25140e990e03142f974501

October 2021

KYIV, Ukraine — The Ministry of Health in Ukraine, the country with the lowest rate of coronavirus vaccination in Europe, reported on Tuesday that 538 people had died of Covid-19 in the country over the previous 24 hours. It was the highest daily death toll since the beginning of the pandemic.

The country’s health officials are struggling with two interconnected and vexing problems: widespread vaccine skepticism, and illegal schemes selling fake Covid credentials that people use to get around restrictions intended to slow the virus’ spread, like a new rule taking effect Thursday that requires a vaccination certificate or negative test to board a train.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/world/europe/ukraine-covid-deaths.html

(NEXSTAR) — Misinformation and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccines have flourished on social media since the start of the pandemic — even before the vaccines were officially available. But new data reveals how Russia, currently in the midst of its invasion of Ukraine, aided in spreading misinformation in an attempt to make the U.S. look bad.

According to a study by Stanford University, fake social media profiles pretending to be based in the U.S. cropped up around November 2020. The operation was linked to “Russian actors,” researchers say. Throughout the pandemic, accounts for fake people zeroed in on far-right forums and “alternative” social media platforms like Gab and Parler with bad-faith information.

https://newsnationnow.com/us-news/russia-helped-covid-vaccine-lies-spread-study-shows/

Russian President Vladimir Putin is recruiting thousands of seasoned Middle East fighters to join Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine, doubling down on an invasion Western military experts see as losing momentum.

The move, coming a fortnight after Putin ordered the invasion that has outraged much of the world, will tap battle-hardened mercenaries from conflicts such as Syria without risking additional Russian military casualties.

At a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East who were ready to come to fight alongside Russian-backed forces in the breakaway Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2022/03/11/putin-recruits-middle-east-mercenaries/