Zelenskyi’s Office held a meeting: the first COVID-19 vaccination reduces the likelihood of infection by 65%

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi held a meeting on the prevention of the COVID-19 spread, which was attended by representatives of the government and law enforcement agencies.

The Office of the President reports.

Denys Shmyhal noted that the number of intensive care beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 had increased over the last week. If the week before, a third of the spots were taken, now it's almost half: 2,212 out of 4,694. Today, 1,072 ventilators are the largest number since the beginning of the pandemic in Ukraine.

"This confirms the negative dynamics and the complex course of the disease. In the Ivano-Frankivsk region, the situation has stabilized after introducing the red level of epidemic danger, but so far the region remains among the leaders in the number of active patients (17,994). Most of them are in Kyiv (44,600). Among the leaders are also Vinnytsia (15,133) and Chernivtsi (14,220) regions.

In total, there are currently 213,000 active patients in Ukraine," Prime Minister said.

The President cued it was necessary to constantly explain to people the issues related to vaccination.

"We should explain to people that the first coronavirus vaccination reduces the likelihood of infection by 65%. So the chances of infection remain. And only the second dose creates full protection against this danger. That's why we must not forget about masks even now when vaccination is already underway," Zelenskyi said.

The Ministry of Health reported that side effects from vaccination were detected in only 0.8% of cases, no severe cases were reported.

Besides, the Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov stressed that the European Medicines Agency had already officially stated that the AstraZeneca vaccine didn't increase the risk of blood clots.