KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th January, 2021) Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations has launched a probe into an alleged secret vaccination of the top elite with smuggled Pfizer COVID-19 shots, national media reported.
Investigators are collecting information on the issue and interviewing witnesses, the Strana.ua news outlet reported on Thursday.
While Ukraine has yet to receive first vaccine shots, media reported earlier in the week that some 10 lawmakers, businessmen and top officials had been "secretly immunized" with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, paying up to 3,000 Euros ($3,690) for two injections.
Mykhailo Radutsky, the chairman of the parliamentary health committee and a member of the pro-presidential party, has denied the information. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who is also claimed to have got inoculated, has ordered a probe into the allegations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tasked law enforcement agencies on Wednesday with immediately verifying the reports.
Zelenskyy said in December that he had tasked the health ministry with acquiring 100,000 to 200,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in January or February at the latest. Health Minister Maxym Stepanov said that technical documents have already been signed with the COVAX mechanism for the supply of 8 million vaccine doses. Later, the country struck a contract for a further 1.9 million doses with China's Sinovac Biotech.
