KYIV – Ukraine on Tuesday received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine, raising hopes that authorities can start beating back the virus' spread in a country where cases have strained the fragile health care system.
A consignment of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine was flown to the capital Kyiv from India. Officials said the first tranche of vaccine will be administered to medical workers and military personnel in eastern Ukraine, where conflict with Russian-backed separatists has been ongoing since 2014, and to regions of western Ukraine where the rate of infections has been the most severe.
Ukraine also expects to receive more vaccine doses under the COVAX distribution program, including those produced by Pfizer/BioNTech