World Bank Approves $90 Million Loan For Ukraine's COVID-19 Vaccination

The World Bank has approved a $90 million project to help Ukraine’s health sector respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The international financial institution announced the loan on May 11, saying the project will help Ukraine buy COVID-19 vaccines and improve infrastructure for vaccine storage and logistics.

“This new loan will help Ukraine with purchasing and deployment of vaccines, including through, but not limited to, the COVAX global initiative,” said Arup Banerji, World Bank regional country director for Eastern Europe.

The World Bank has already provided $57 million in lending to support Ukraine’s COVID-19 response.

Earlier on May 11, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that Ukraine had contracted to purchase 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from several producers to be received by the end of this year.

He said that with previous batches of vaccine doses, the new shots would be enough to inoculate a majority of adults in the country of 44 million people by the end of 2021.

Last month, Ukraine recorded the highest number of new infections as a second wave smashed the country, but new cases have dropped significantly in the past two weeks.