The Ministry of Health hopes to receive the first 150,000-200,000 doses of vaccines against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in February and begin large-scale vaccination among doctors and military personnel in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) zone.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said at a press conference on Tuesday that the Ministry of Health is currently completing negotiations with manufacturers on the purchase of vaccines.

"We are in the final stage of negotiations with vaccine manufacturers. I hope that in the coming days or weeks we will sign agreements. We expect that the negotiations, which are currently being conducted, will enable us to receive vaccines in February and begin large-scale vaccinations," he said.

Stepanov said that it is about the supply of such a quantity of vaccines, which leads to "large-scale vaccination."

"We are not talking about 5,000-6,000 doses. We assumed that 150,000-200,000 doses will be delivered in February," he said.

Stepanov said that the first deliveries of the vaccine will be used to vaccinate doctors working with patients with COVID-19, as well as for military personnel taking part in the JFO.

The minister also said that within the framework of the COVAX initiative, 8 million doses of vaccines will be delivered to Ukraine in March, the first tranche is expected to amount to 1.2 million doses.