Stepanov explains why it’ll take longer to wait for the second coronavirus vaccination

The Ministry of Health, on the recommendation of the National Technical Expert Group, has increased the interval between the first and second CoviShield vaccinations from 28 days to 90 days.

The Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov explained on the air of the Ukraine 24 channel for what purpose they did it.

"According to studies conducted in the UK, Canada, France, and other countries that have previously started vaccination with AstraZeneca, for the vaccine to be more effective, the period between the first and second vaccinations should be up to 12 weeks, preferably 12 weeks. Our immunologists studied this issue and recommended that the Ministry of Health increase it from 4 to 12 weeks. It's connected to the effectiveness of the vaccine, with greater human protection," Stepanov said.

The Minister also reminded the Ukrainians once again that there were very few cases of side effects from vaccinations.

"Regarding side effects. With 62,000 vaccinations yesterday, we had 362 side effects, minor ones, less than 1%. As for European countries that have stopped vaccination with AstraZeneca, I'm sure it's a temporary measure. The regulator is studying, if it's possible that the side effect of vaccination was like that. Yesterday there was a statement by the European regulator that no links between thrombosis and vaccination had been established," Stepanov said.

We'll note that the WHO recommends continuing to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.

According to Stepanov, there were no cases of thrombosis in Ukraine after the AstraZeneca vaccination.

Earlier, Tkachenko suggested that Europe refusing the AstraZeneca vaccine could be related to an information campaign against it by the Russian Federation.

AstraZeneca has already commented on several countries stopping vaccination with their vaccine.