KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Lekhim plans to deliver 5 million doses of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to Ukraine in the first half of 2021, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.
Lekhim has signed an agreement with China’s leading vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech on vaccine supply, Lekhim’s head of marketing Eleonora Miroshnik said.
It includes 1.8 million doses to be delivered starting from March under health ministry procurement, she said.
Ukraine’s presidential office said in late December that the health minister had signed a contract to buy 1.8 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.
The Sinovac vaccine will be supplied independently of the COVAX initiative, which is coordinated by the World Health Organization.
Ukraine hopes to receive 8 million doses under the COVAX scheme.
Coronavirus infections in Ukraine began rising in September and have been consistently high ever since, triggering several national lockdowns.
A total of 1,124,430 coronavirus cases have been registered in Ukraine with 20,019 deaths.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets. Editing by Jane Merriman)
