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DEUkrainian law enforcement officers are beginning to verify the information on the alleged smuggling of the coronavirus vaccine into Ukraine. The corresponding instruction was given by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If someone really hit upon the idea of secretly and illegally importing the vaccine for sale, the response should be as harsh as possible,” Zelensky posted on Telegram.
He noted that the state has a clear vaccination plan: people at risk and those at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic will get the vaccine first.
Even before Zelensky’s statement, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced that he had instructed the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to verify the information on the possible secret vaccination.
“I am a vaccination supporter. According to the plan approved by the Ministry of Health, the first batch of vaccines will be given to doctors on the forefront of the fight against COVID-19. I will be vaccinated at my own expense in the second or third turn,” the Prime Minister posted on his Telegram channel. He added that he will get his vaccination after the officially registered vaccine arrives in hospitals.
As a reminder, the day before the Ukrainian media reported that Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine had been smuggled into Ukraine and that some domestic politicians and officials had managed to receive a shot of vaccine. In particular, Prime Minister Shmyhal was mentioned among those who allegedly “got jabs in secret.”
At the same time, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko called this information a fake and hinted at its Russian origin.
“If you read between the lines, you can see another manipulation of the northern ‘neighbour.’ It is even strange that Sputnik V is not directly mentioned, which, apparently, is already being used in Russia’s information war against Ukraine,” the minister wrote.
He stressed that “any post or article can be a fake” during an information war, and these fakes spread as fast as the coronavirus.
Bohdan Marusyak
