It is a decision that could remove the distrust of the population vis-à-vis injections against Covid-19. President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday announced compensation for Ukrainians who received two doses, in order to encourage his compatriots to be vaccinated.
“Each person having received two doses will be able to obtain 1,000 hryvnias”, or about 35 euros, a significant sum in this country, one of the poorest in Europe, announced the president in a video. To date, less than a third of Ukrainians are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Money for sport, culture or travel
The vaccinated people can then spend this amount for a subscription in a sports hall, to go to the cinema, to the theater, to the museum or to pay for a trip by train or by plane within the country. “This is support for the industries most affected by lockdowns,” Volodymyr Zelensky explained. The State plans to grant 200 million euros in the coming months for this program which will be launched on December 19.
With 442 deaths linked to the coronavirus recorded in 24 hours, Ukraine, whose public health system is failing, was on Monday the second country in the world with the most new daily deaths, behind Russia (1,211). The country has been facing its worst wave of coronavirus for weeks, driven by the Delta variant and public mistrust of vaccines.
Two doses for only 28% of Ukrainians
However, vaccination accelerated in October under pressure from the authorities who put in place restrictions for the unvaccinated, such as the obligation to show a health pass to access certain public places. But so far, only 28% of Ukrainians have received two doses of the vaccine, the health minister said on Monday.
“We have passed the peak of this wave” of the pandemic, however assured the president according to which the number of new cases fell by 6% and that of hospitalizations, by 13% last week compared to the previous seven days. In total, the country of nearly 45 million inhabitants has recorded 3.2 million cases of this disease, including more than 77,000 deaths.