KIEV, March 4. / TASS /. The continuation of the development of its own vaccine against coronavirus in Ukraine will take too long, while a competitive market for such drugs has already been created in the world. This was announced on Thursday at a press conference by Prime Minister Denis Shmygal.
"The Ukrainian vaccine also began to be developed. Indeed, groups of scientists worked on this. My personal position is that today there is already a competitive market that must be used," the head of the Ukrainian government admitted.
He noted that if the development of his drug continues, the research will take a long time. “Even if it (the vaccine - TASS) appears, additional research will be required. This is nine to ten months. This is a long time. By that time, we will already use existing products on the market,” Shmygal is sure.
At the same time, he added that the work continues, and assured that in the event of a Ukrainian vaccine, the citizens of the country will be the first to get access to it. "As for the Ukrainian vaccine, if you are interested, scientists are working with the Minister of Health, and if such a vaccine appears, we will offer you to use this product first," the prime minister said.
In October 2020, Ukraine announced the development of its own vaccine. It was planned that the process of creating the drug will take from nine to 12 months. In the future, the country's authorities did not provide details on the progress of the research. In mid-February, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, while on an official visit to the UAE, offered cooperation for the production of a vaccine against coronavirus. The head of state instructed the Ministry of Health to create, together with the UAE Ministry of Health, a working group to exchange experience in this area.
Ukraine began the vaccination process in the second half of February - one of the last in Europe. At that time, the first 500 thousand doses of the drug Covishield, produced under license from AstraZeneca, were delivered to the country from India. The state has not received any other drugs yet. Kiev refused from Russian vaccines.