COVID-19 vaccination in Ukraine: transparent and fast or opaque and hard to track?

The team of the Anti-corruption Headquarters prepared an analysis of the vaccination process in Ukraine and found weaknesses and even the first case of budget funds embezzlement. More details below: 

1) Data inconsistency 

The long-awaited vaccination against COVID-19 began in Ukraine on Tuesday, February 24. The first person to receive the vaccine was Yevhen Gorenko the emergency physician from the Cherkasy Regional Hospital. According to the official vaccination portal (https://vaccination.covid19.gov.ua/) as of March 1, 4905 people received the dose of the vaccine.

But what stands behind these figures? The first thing that catches attention: the lack of clear and relevant data. 

- How many doses of the vaccine are available in each region? - How many mobile teams have already started their work? 

- By what principle are the vaccines distributed among certain groups of risk (eg, physicians and military personnel)? 

The answer to these questions could be given by the National Health Service of Ukraine, which launched an analytical vaccination dashboard based on data from the electronic health care system (e-health): (https://nszu.gov.ua/e-data/dashboard/immunization-stats). 

But, unfortunately, so far the dashboard is more confusing than informing. As of March 2, it included data on only 4,101 vaccinations. 

According to our information, this inconsistency is due to a delay in entering data into the e-health system. 

Also, a separate information system is currently developed by the National Security and Defense Council, but how it will be filled is still unknown. 

We call on the Ministry of Health and the National Health Service of Ukraine to open access to the quality data on COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible. This will allow civil society to assess the effectiveness of the campaign and eliminate room for any abuses.

2) Slow pace 

According to the official data, as many as 90 people were vaccinated in Ukraine on Saturday, February 27. Given that the overall figure has not changed as of Monday, March 1 it appears that no vaccinations were held on Sunday. 

This does not correspond to the statements of the Chief Sanitary Doctor Mr. Lyashko, who promised that the mobile teams would work continuously and perform 100 vaccinations a day. 

But it is virtually impossible to understand at what stage the delay occurred. 

Yesterday, during the "Freedom of Speech" show on the ICTV channel, the Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov explained the reasons for the current slow pace of vaccinations. According to him, there were few vaccinations on Saturday and Sunday, because doctors who have to administer vaccines on the first stage had a day off. In addition, the Minister assured that during this week the number of vaccinations will increase to 10 thousand per day. 

According to the experts of the Anti-Corruption Headquarters, given the lack of proper vaccine accounting and the small number of vaccinated people, the accelerated pace (5-7 million per month) may lead to corruption abuses. 

3) Inflated prices 

During the monitoring of the purchases of refrigerators for vaccines, analysts of the NGO "Anti-Corruption Headquarters" found that the Kherson City Clinical Hospital plans to buy refrigerators twice as expensive as the market price. 

The hospital has announced a tender for the purchase of two refrigerators for storage of the vaccines for 60 thousand UAH each. The procurement is carried out at the expense of the National Health Service of Ukraine. 

At the same time, the refrigerators with similar characteristics (volume: 345 L, temperature mode: 0 - + 8 ° C) were bought in February by the Center of Primary Medical Care of the Raivka village council of the Dnepropetrovsk region at a price of 25 thousand UAH per unit with the VAT. Thus, the expected cost of purchasing a refrigerator by the Kherson Hospital is two times higher than the price of the refrigerator bought by the CPMC. 

4) Incorrect operation of the "Actions" application for registration for vaccination. 

From March 1, all Ukrainians can enroll in the queue for vaccination against COVID-19. To do this, citizens must register through the platform "Diya", on the website, or through a mobile application. Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said that in

less than a day, 45,000 Ukrainians had been waiting registered for vaccination - only 0.11% of the total population. However, it is difficult to call it a queue, because, as reported in the media, users do not receive any serial number and do not know how many people registered before them. "Action" also does not report even the approximate timing of vaccination for registered users. In addition, it is unclear whether it is necessary to register for people belonging to priority groups. 

As previously reported in the Ministry of Digital Transformation, "Ukrainians who will be in the electronic queue will be asked to register at the vaccination point, choosing a specific date and time of the visit." However, this feature is neither available in the application nor on the website. The instructions state that the entry in the waiting list is not an automatic entry to the doctor. 

It is also not clear exactly how even representatives of priority groups, including teachers and social workers, should register for vaccination. If you select one of the priority groups when enrolling in the queue, "Diya" informs that the list for vaccination should be formed by the employer. Namely, the management of universities, schools, social services and other institutions, which is not even aware of this yet.