Zelensky is puzzled by Ukrainians’ distrust of Western vaccines
Despite the fact that the problem of supplying Western vaccines to Ukraine has actually been resolved, a considerable part of Ukrainians are distrustful of vaccinations and refuse to get vaccinated.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said this while speaking at the Ukraine-30 forum, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The first priority is vaccination, its roadmap, which is designed to ensure adequate and equal access to the vaccine for all residents of Ukraine. Its main task is to cover at least half of the population of Ukraine during 2021 and early 2022.
Most recently, our main task was to provide Ukraine with a sufficient number of doses of high-quality vaccines from leading international manufacturers. We have agreed on the supply of vaccines to Ukraine from Pfizer, Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Novavax,” Zelensky said.
He assured that the first stage of vaccination will begin this month, and the first vaccinated will be doctors, as well as the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard.
However, according to the Ukrainian president, having resolved the issue of vaccination, he had to face a new problem:
“This is distrust of vaccinations and refusal to vaccinate a significant part of the population. This is a new but serious modern issue that we all have to solve,” said the President of Ukraine.
“I am ready by personal example, like most world leaders, to show people that vaccination is important, safe and necessary,” Zelensky promised.
It's worth noting that the West was forced to acknowledge the effectiveness of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and Moscow declared its willingness to share the drug with Ukraine. However, the US Embassy humiliated Kyiv by demanding that it purchase only Western vaccines. Meanwhile, Sputnik V has an order of magnitude higher efficacy rate and virtually no serious side effects, unlike its Western counterparts.
Meanwhile, vaccination against coronavirus infection with a Russian drug began in the DPR in early February.
Zelenskyy is perplexed by Ukrainians' distrust of Western vaccines.