Can’t wait for vaccines until 2022? How Ukraine became a “red” dot on the map of Europe and who is to blame | Society

According to Agatha Demarais, an economist in the research division of the British publication The Economist Group, Ukraine is the only European country that will not be able to get wide access to the coronavirus vaccine, not only in March 2021, as they say in the Ministry Ukrainian Health, but also in the next year in principle. Analysts say that large-scale vaccination will begin in our country only from April 2022 and will last all of 2023. The corresponding Agatha Demarais infographic published on her page at Twitter December 11.

OBOZREVATEL found out why Ukraine was at the bottom of the vaccine queue.

Ukraine in the “red” zone

Judging by the infographic from The Economist, the countries of the world are divided into four conditional categories based on when the COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available.

• Dark green area: Active vaccination is expected in March 2021 – June 2022. Includes Canada, the United States, Great Britain and the countries of the European Union. In fact, vaccination has already started in the countries mentioned, with the exception of the EU. People will be vaccinated here at the end of the month.

• Light green area: The vaccine will be widely available in September 2021 – June 2022. The zone includes China, countries in Asia and South America, Australia and Russia.

• Orange zone: Access to the vaccine is expected in 2022. Includes Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kenya, Tanzania, and several other countries.

• Red zone: The vaccine will be widely available in April 2022-2023. This zone includes most of the African countries, Mongolia, Pakistan and Ukraine.

This information is confirmed by a series of international public organizations that are guided by statistics on drugs ordered by the world’s leading countries. For example, the IDEA Initiative. According to them, Canada has the highest number of doses, four times what is needed for the 154 million inhabitants. In total, there are 616 million doses. Then there are Australia, which announced the victory of the coronavirus epidemic, the United Kingdom, Japan, the EU countries, the United States, Brazil and Indonesia.

The following infographic from the IDEA Initiative details which countries and in what doses have reserved vaccines against the coronavirus. Ukraine was not on the list. But it does have Russia with a request for 30 million doses, which has launched its own Sputnik V vaccine, which has not yet passed the third and most important phase of testing. And even Bangladesh and Uzbekistan with requests for 30 and 35 million doses, Nepal – 25 million.The governments of these countries were able to find money and agree (Click here to enlarge the image of the infographic, where this data is shown).

Why it happened?

The governments of the “red” countries, including Ukraine, are still have not signed direct agreements for the purchase of vaccines with leading development companies… This information is confirmed by a group of international charities People’s Vaccine Alliance. According to them, the richest countries in the world bought most of the potentially successful drugs in the development stage.

The report says that “developed countries have bought so many vaccines that they will be able to vaccinate their citizens three times. And in 70 countries of the world, only one person in ten will be able to obtain the drug.” Among those states is Ukraine.

Despite assurances from the Ukrainian authorities in early September that the country is at the stage of signing documents with Moderna, and is also negotiating with Britain’s AstraZeneca and two Chinese pharmaceutical companies, we will run the risk. Suppose that the Ukrainian government did not order the purchase of vaccines and did not negotiate directly with any manufacturer about purchases and supplies..

Although the Ministry of Health states that they intend to vaccinate 20 million 851 thousand Ukrainians. This requires approximately 42 million doses. In money it is $ 640 million, or 18.6 billion UAH. But the budget, according to the head of the Ministry of Health Maxim Stepanov, was allocated six times less amount for vaccination against the coronavirus – only 2.6 billion UAH instead of 15.1 billion.

Judging from the officials’ latest statement, Ukraine expects so far only 8 million doses of vaccine for only 4 million people as part of the global COVAX initiative.

But not everything is fine with her either. According to Reuters, citing internal documents from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), COVAX faced “very high” risk of failure and it can leave states without vaccines until 2024. In addition to our country, there are 179 more countries in the vaccine queue.

The deputy and member of the Health Committee, Olga Stefanishina, confirmed to OBOZREVATEL that Ukraine is not yet negotiating with world vaccine manufacturers about bringing the drug to Ukraine, not even for commercial purposes. A Quick access to vaccines can be gained by joining vaccine trials that are taking place around the world..

Ukraine waits – leading countries get vaccinated

So far, the Ukrainian government waits for a small amount of free COVAX vaccine and is holding out its hand in the hope that rich countries will agree to transfer some doses under some agreements. But world leaders joined an active dialogue with vaccine manufacturers over the summer. They signed contracts for the supply of drugs even when it became known about the successful second phase of testing.

According to the scientific weekly The BMJ, high-income countries, including the European Union bloc, bought at least 7.48 billion doses, or 3.76 billion courses.

For starters, Britain bought 40 million doses of the vaccine. This will be enough for 20 million people. In the United States, by the end of April, they plan to vaccinate 100 million people out of a total population of 328 million. EU countries will start in early January and can complete the campaign by the end of the year.

The publication points out that only 40% of the world’s countries will be able to vaccinate the population in 2021. Considering all the above, it is difficult to disagree with The Economist’s forecast, because only after the “rich” affirm the vaccine will begin to reach third countries of the world, including Ukraine. Waiting for 2022?