Ukraine Introduces Compulsory Vaccinations For Teachers

Kiev, Oct 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Oct, 2021 ) :Ukraine on Thursday ordered mandatory Covid-19 jabs for teachers and some government officials as the country faces growing infection rates and a sluggish vaccination drive.

Authorities in the ex-Soviet country of around 40 million people initially struggled with a lack of vaccines and are now fighting an uphill battle to convince a vaccine-sceptic population to get innoculated.

"The decision aims to protect the life and health of Ukrainians," health minister Viktor Lyashko said in a statement from his ministry.

School and university teachers and some civil servants will have one month to get their first dose of a vaccine or they will be "suspended from their duties" without pay, the ministry said.

Four vaccines including AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna are available in Ukraine, but only 16 percent of Ukrainians have been fully inoculated.

By late September, 46 percent of Ukraine's teachers had been fully vaccinated, according to the health ministry.

Lyashko said that the majority of coronavirus patients requiring hospital care "have not been vaccinated".

Ukraine has recorded more than 2.4 million coronavirus cases and over 57,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.