EUROPEAN UNION PLANS TO BUY MEASLES, POLIO, TB AND COVID-19 VACCINES FOR UKRAINE REFUGEES

Tue 15 March 2022:

The European Union is planning to buy and distribute vaccines against measles, polio, tuberculosis and Covid-19 to immunise Ukrainian children and other unvaccinated Ukrainian refugees, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Tuesday.

The number of Ukrainians fleeing abroad has approached 3 million, half of them children, according to estimates from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Most have gone to EU countries and many more are expected.

“Vaccination coverage in Ukraine was very low for several vaccine preventable diseases, especially for children, such as tuberculosis, polio, measles, but also for Covid-19,” Kyriakides told EU health ministers in a video-conference meeting on the Ukraine crisis, according to speaking points shared with the media.

She added the bloc was planning to procure vaccines to immunise the refugees against these diseases.

Measles, polio and tuberculosis vaccination rates in Ukraine are estimated to be below the recommended levels to stop outbreaks, which the World Health Organization (WHO) sets at around 95 percent to achieve population-wide protection.

In 2020, 82 percent of Ukrainian children had been vaccinated against measles and about 93 percent of the population was immunised against tuberculosis. The latest figures on polio vaccinations show that 84 percent of children had been immunised, but the proportion dropped to 60 percent in some regions.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 are also possible given the low level of vaccination among Ukrainians and the cramped conditions in which they are travelling to the EU.

Fewer than 35 percent of Ukrainians are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, half the EU average of over 70 percent, according to the WHO.

NEWS AGENCIES

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