Page 13 - UKRRptMar21

2.7 ​Politics - misc
Ukraine sources 25mn doses of coronavirus vaccine. ​Ukraine has been struggling to source coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to inoculate the population but after a month of work it has now secured a total of just under 25mn doses to treat a population that is officially 43mn people strong.
The actual population number is actually about 35mn if you take into account the several million people that have left to work abroad. The population number is also brought down by the lack of a good census for several years and the poor demographics of the country.
The 25mn doses will be sufficient to inoculate the whole population if you also take into account the infection rate has been high and a significant share of the population already has antibodies, plus a significant share of the population are refusing to take the vaccination.
The vaccination programme is expected to start in the second quarter of this year.
The government is sourcing vaccines from the following:
· 1.9mn doses of Sinovac vaccines from China
· 8mn doses under the global COVAX program for poorer countries.
· 15mn doses of the Novavax/AstraZeneca from India’s Serum Institute
After testing positive for COVID-19 and recovering in November 2020, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky received his first dose of the Covishield​ (AstraZeneca) vaccine in the Luhansk region on March 2 with the soldiers on the front line. Zelensky is now one of approximately 7,000 people in Ukraine who have been immunized since the vaccination campaign began. According to Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, approximately 100,000 people have registered for vaccination against COVID-19 so far, with most of them signing up through the Diya portal.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detained former deputy CEO of Privatbank Volodymyr Yatsenko​, law enforcement bodies reported on Feb. 22. Yatsenko is suspected in misappropriation of large funds of Privatbank by abusing his authority, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported the same day. “Witnesses in one of important and sensitive criminal cases, monitored by Ukraine’s international partners, have become suspects today,” Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova commented.
Yatsenko tried to fly from Ukraine early Feb. 22, just after Venediktova signed a suspicion notice that allowed to detain him, according to biz.censor.net news site. The jet with Yatsenko had 10 minutes left to reach the Ukrainian border when law enforcement bodies ordered it to return and land in Kyiv.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced a new $125 million package for Ukraine's Security Assistance Initiative ​that includes training, equipment and advisory efforts to help Ukraine's forces preserve the country's territorial
13​ UKRAINE Country Report​ March 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com