Ukraine to buy extra 10 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine

KYIV: Ukraine has signed a contract with Pfizer for an additional 10 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, brining the total number of doses to 20 million, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said on Saturday (May 1).

"We signed a contract. Hence, we will receive a total of 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccine this calendar year," the presidential office quoted Health Minister Maksym Stepanov as saying.

Ukraine is expecting to receive the first 500,000 doses in the next few weeks, with a further 4.5 million doses in the third quarter and the remaining 15 million doses in the fourth quarter, the statement said.

The first contract with Pfizer for 10 million doses was signed last month.

Ukraine also plans to source vaccines from AstraZeneca, China and the global COVAX scheme.

A total of 752,293 Ukrainians have received their first vaccine dose as of May 1, according to health ministry data.

The country has registered more than 2 million infections and 44,436 deaths since the start of the pandemic last year.

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