UNICEF has provided a first shipment of humanitarian aid in the form of 600,000 dozes of inactivated polio vaccine and 1.102 million self-blocking disposable syringes to prevent poliomyelitis

The press service of Health Ministry of Ukraine reported that the provision of humanitarian aid was possible thanks to financial support of the Canadian government which allocated $3 million for the purpose.

Head of the representative office of UNICEF in Ukraine Giovanna Barberis said that the vaccines were made in France and have all the required quality certificates.

"Jointly with the WHO and Health Ministry of Ukraine we are working on the polio vaccinating strategy. We're preparing several information events for parents and medical staff for vaccination," she said.

The ministry said that in 2015 Health Ministry will receive 1.1 million dozes of inactivated polio vaccine and 3.7 million dozes of oral poliovaccine (OPV) as humanitarian aid. This will allow vaccinating around 3 million children, including elder children who have not yet been vaccinated.