Poland may transfer 1.5 million doses of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine to Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Enin said.

"The Polish side has once again showed its friendly attitude towards the Ukrainian side by offering us a certain amount of vaccine. This is about 1.5 million doses of vaccines that the Polish side could transfer to the Ukrainian side after receiving the relevant amount of vaccines by Poland itself. In addition, we hold negotiations within the relevant international mechanisms to ensure mass vaccination and we expect to receive about 8 million vaccines," Enin told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to the deputy minister, since the middle of this summer, the Foreign Ministry and foreign diplomatic institutions have been actively working in potential vaccine-producing countries in order to establish direct contacts not only with the governments of these states, but also with the owners of companies that were developing at that time and now have already developed vaccines. "The main responsible executive authority on this issue is the Health Ministry of Ukraine. We very promptly inform our colleagues from the Ministry of Health about the possibility of starting negotiation processes. At the moment, with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our colleagues from the Ministry of Health have signed a number of nondisclosure agreements. In this regard, I am somewhat limited to name the companies and countries with which negotiations are underway to conclude forward contracts in the future for the supply of vaccines," Enin said.

He said the geography of the talks is not limited to Europe or the United States, and the Foreign Ministry is also actively working in the Asian direction.

"We expect that a real major vaccination could start in Ukraine before the end of the first half of next year," Enin said.