The head of the state enterprise “Medical Procurement of Ukraine” Arsen Zhumadilov spoke about the breakdown of the contract on the vaccine against COVID-19. He wrote about this on his page at Facebook .
According to him, as of December 18, 2020, a dialogue was conducted with several manufacturers to conclude supply contracts as soon as possible. However, later, the Minister of Health of Ukraine Maxim Stepanov said that the country was in danger due to disruption of negotiations with vaccine manufacturers, as the state-owned enterprise requires a bank guarantee for advance payment.
“The Prime Minister, taking the information as an alarming signal, contacted me by phone, said that by our actions we are putting the country in danger and instructed to work with the market exclusively through ministry of health “, – said Zhumadilov. He added that the country could have received a price at least one dollar lower than the final price if Medical Procurement of Ukraine negotiated independently, creating competitive pressure on the supplier.
Zhumadilov noted that at present Ukraine could already have two contracts for two different vaccines. He also stressed that today there is “no rational basis” for ordering a Russian vaccine, since there are “cheaper, more effective, reliable” drugs.
Earlier it was reported that on the website of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a petition appeared with a request to buy the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Ukrainians demand to instill it on everyone.
Chapter MFA Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba called the Russian coronavirus vaccine a hybrid weapon against Kiev.