At the end of the year, the world welcomed the long-awaited vaccine against the coronavirus. According to scientists and doctors, they will be the key to defeating the pandemic, which has been holding humanity by the throat for almost an hour. However, life-saving drugs are still not available to everyone.
ElitExpert found out which countries started mass vaccination and when to wait for Ukraine.
United Kingdom
On December 8, a 90-year-old woman from Northern Ireland became the first person to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in Britain, and The United Kingdom became the first country in the West, where the vaccine was used in trials. Margaret Keenan from Enniskillen received the vaccine. The woman said she was "honoured" to receive the vaccinations at Coventry University Hospital at 6am. She said being the first was a "privilege" and "the best early birthday present she could have wished for" as it meant she would be able to spend time with her family and friends in the New Year after spending most of year she was alone. The following week, the woman turned 31.
Vaccines from the German company BioNTech and its American partner Pfizer were the first to be used. According to the results of research, the effectiveness of the drug reaches 95%, in the case of people over 65 years old — more than 94%.
North America
In the United States of America and neighboring Canada, the first to receive the coronavirus vaccine on December 14 were nurses Sandra Lindsey, who works in intensive care at a New York clinic, and Anita Kidangen from Toronto. Footage of the vaccination was shown live on television in both countries. After vaccination, both nurses said that everything was fine with them, and the sensations did not differ from any other vaccinations.
Today, December 22, US President-elect Joseph Biden received a vaccine against the COVID-19 coronavirus. The future head of state received a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the ChristianaCare clinic in Newark, Delaware, in the presence of the press. He was wearing a protective mask, and after the injection he thanked the medical staff and called them heroes.
Israel
20 December mass vaccination began in Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, the 71-year-old prime minister of the country, was the first to test the vaccine from the same Pfizer/BioNTech — this event was also broadcast live on television.
Before the vaccination, Netanyahu said that the start of mass vaccination against COVID-19 is a "very good day" for Israel. "One small injection for a person is one big leap for the health of all of us," said the Israeli prime minister, paraphrasing the well-known expression of astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Russia
On December 4, mass vaccination also began in Russia. Here, they use the local drug "Sputnik V", developed at the Gamaleya Scientific Center. This vaccine has not yet been approved by the WHO, but this did not prevent the government from starting vaccination — a total of more than 100 people have already been vaccinated in the country.
Europe
The countries of the European Union are still preparing for vaccination. Most of them, including Germany, France and neighboring Poland, plan to start the process from December 27. Some, like Italy, will start a little later - from the beginning of January.
Ukraine and other poor countries
When will Ukraine get the coronavirus vaccine? According to the Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov, the first vaccines that will be delivered to the country free of charge thanks to the COVAX mechanism will start arriving in March this year. However, as previously reported by ElitExpert, among these vaccines there are no drugs from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna (another vaccine approved in the USA). Moreover, none of the vaccines on the list are ready yet. In addition, in the same material, ElitExpert noted, that Ukraine reserved vaccines for only 5% of the country's population.
Most likely, there are no advanced American drugs among them - President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a recent interview with The New York Times that the negotiations on the purchase of the Pfizer vaccine were suspended, as the USA temporarily banned the export of the vaccine outside the states.
By the way, this is a big problem not only for Ukraine - the rich countries reserved the lion's share of the drugs, and the poorer countries got practically nothing. According to gloomy forecasts of foreign media, mass vaccination in Ukraine will not begin until April 2022.
