How It Started: Regional vs World Patterns

The sources of infection in Ukraine were more or less the same as in the rest of the world: travelling, job migration, violation of self-isolation measures. However, the further escalation was slightly different in Ukraine compared to developed countries. The vast majority of COVID-19 cases in Ukraine was found in people from 30-59 age bracket. The proportion of infected young people aged 20-29 was much lower (10.5%) compared to Germany and USA (22.7% and 29.6% respectively). The death rate among the elderly population was also much lower. However, this has to do with the fact that the average life expectancy in Ukraine is lower than in developed countries, therefore, the majority of lethal outcomes happened in lower age brackets. In terms of gender, the distribution of lethal cases showed that COVID-19 affected men disproportionately, making them account for 53% of all COVID fatalities.

Vaccination Perspectives in Ukraine

Ukrainian healthcare system was utterly unprepared for a strike of COVID’s power. At the same time, the population’s reaction to the pandemic is a curious one. Ukrainian people are less afraid of the virus’ direct impact on their health and, possibly, life as it is, but are more concerned with economic consequences. Also, too many Ukrainians are simply not ready to take a vaccine for whatever reason. 57% of population are not ready to vaccinate themselves if a paid solution was available and 40% of them would not take a shot even if it was free of charge. This paints a gloomy picture for future vaccination efforts in the country. There is not much sense in improving delivery, acquisition or distribution if people are simply unwilling to get their jab. Therefore, the situation in Ukraine requires a creative solution aimed not as much at solving the logistics problems but at raising public awareness and making sure the right information is delivered to people.

With the current level of people’s unwillingness to take the vaccine, it is crucial to fix this situation before starting the process of buying and distributing the vaccine itself. As for now, the most viable solution is launching the nation-wide PR campaign. It is supposed to engage national experts in reaching the public with the information on how COVID vaccine will help them avoid complications and catching a virus in the first place.

Development of a mobile application is viewed by experts as essential for measuring the effectiveness of immunisation efforts. Blockchain technology is a perfect solution for tracking the vaccination process, however, around 30% of Ukrainians do not have a smartphone in possession. This problem can easily be addressed by developing the web versions of the application but there are also 7% of people who do not have access to the web whatsoever. It is also very likely that these people come from the backgrounds most vulnerable to the virus. In this way, it is necessary to cover this segment using the efforts of social workers and municipal communities.

One problem that might occur during a development process is the lack of government funding. Fortunately, Ukraine is one of Eastern Europe’s growing IT hubs boasting a great number of highly qualified specialists, thus, making it a viable solution to encourage local private investors to help with the project.