Sweden donates over 500,000 doses of upgraded Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to Ukraine

MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - Sweden has sent to Ukraine more than 500,000 doses of Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.1 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech especially against the Omicron variant of coronavirus and its sub-variants.

The vaccine is intended to be a booster dose for people who have already completed their initial coronavirus vaccination course, the Ukrainian media reported citing the Ukrainian Health Ministry's website.

The vaccine has been delivered to most Ukrainian regions, including 23,000 doses to the Ternopol, Rovno, Khmelnitsky and Zhitomir regions, 40,000 to the Dnepropetrovsk region, 34,500 to the Vinnitsa region, 20,000 to the Sumy region, 17,000 to the Ivano-Frankovsk region, 11,500 to the Nikolayev region, 8,600 to the Odessa region, and 5,700 to the Donetsk region.

The Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.1 vaccine is specifically adapted for protection against the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. It is designed only for people who have already completed the initial Covid-19 vaccination course with any other vaccine.

In Ukraine, the vaccine will be used for the first and second booster vaccinations for people aged 18 and older.