The doses are set to be soon distributed to vaccination sites across the country, said Viktor Lyashko in a meeting at the President’s office, adding that in a short time Ukraine will get another supply  – 1,23 million  CoronaVac doses  and   256 thousand Pfizer doses.

What is known of Sinovac vaccine so far

When injected, CoronaVas that is based on inactive forms of the virus causes immune response. It is a two-doze vaccine that are administered within 14-28 days.

Incomplete data from clinical trials in China and later research released coming from Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and Philippines  fueled doubts over the Chinese vaccine efficiency.

While Indonesia reported 65,3% efficiency of Sinovac vaccine, Brazilian research center came with a different figure claiming in the late December of 2020 that Chinese shots have efficiency ranging from  over 50% to 90%, which added questions over transparency of trial data. Two months later, Brazil research came up with new figures suggesting  Coronavac efficiency was ‘over 50%’. Trial data coming from Turkey put the vaccine’s efficiency at 83,5%, the same efficiency figure was cited by Ukraine’s public health officials in late March.

CoronaVac side effects

The most common side effects of CoronaVac vaccination are injection-site pain and swells, fever, headache, muscle pain and spasms , joint pain,  cough, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, mild allergies, scleroma, eyelid swell.

Price of  CoronaVac vaccine contract 

Amid reports of its mixed trial data and efficiency concerns coming from Indonesia and Turkey in December, 2020, Ukraine went ahead with a deal with  SinoVac on  the vaccine supplies.

On December 20, 2020, Ukraine’s Health Ministry signed a contract that was set to bring almost 2 million CoronaVac doses worth UAH 964 million covered in advance payment.  The contract raised some eyebrows – Arsen Zhumadilov, the chairman of state company ‘Derzhavni zakupivli’,  argued the vaccines could have been bought at a lower price.

According to the government plans, the Chinese vaccine was set to make up for shortage of Pfizer/BioNTech shots known for their 95% efficiency rate.