Kyiv quarantine tightens as Pfizer vaccine promised

Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko announced on Telegram
further restrictions for the city beginning on Monday, April 5. These
restrictions include the closure of mass transit for all except essential
workers with special passes. Educational institutions and children’s
playgrounds will close (currently, grades 5 and up are already online).
Businesses need to restrict on-site employee presence to a minimum.

The move comes as the city and Ukraine as a whole sees
new cases of COVID-19 rise along with the number of deaths from it. The Health
Ministry reported record-totals of over 400 deaths on each of the last two
days.

The Health Ministry also reported on March 31 that
Ukraine can expect another 947,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under
the UN COVAX facility. Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko reported on
Facebook that Ukraine should be receiving 117,000 Pfizer doses in the near
future.

James Hydzik: Ukrainians
have grown increasingly suspicious of the government’s vaccination activities.
Some of these stem from forces outside the Zelensky administration’s control.
An example of this is that the Indian CoviShield vaccine falls victim to a
time-honored tendency of Indian firms, among others, sending their best
material to the U.S. and western Europe, and second rate or “almost in spec”
things to eastern Europe. The “European” AstraZeneca material raises suspicions
because of blood clots.

Second, the government has shot itself in the foot
in terms of purchasing irregularities and a failure to act in a way that
inspires confidence. These steps, combined with the above, have reduced public
desire to be vaccinated, even for free, to less than 50%. It could be that the
COVAX facility will bring a more trusted process as well as a more trusted
vaccine.