"It is urgent to hold a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council to develop the joint action plan to contain the third wave of Coronavirus," Olena Kondratiuk

Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat
15 March 2021, 16:11

Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk demands an urgent joint sitting of the Parliament and the Government, as well as a separate sitting of the National Security and Defense Council on countering the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.
She took such an initiative at the Conciliation Council of parliamentary factions and groups. The Vice Speaker noted that Ukraine is in the top five in Europe in terms of the rate of spread of COVID-19 and four regions have already been declared red quarantine zones. At the same time, the level of hospitalizations is growing rapidly in a number of other districts.
According to the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, the rate of vaccination in Ukraine is extremely unsatisfactory, despite the promises of the Ministry of Health that everything was ready for the start of the campaign.
"Unfortunately, my prediction that vaccination, which began with great difficulty and delay in Ukraine, is not able to stop the third wave of diseases has come true. The number of infections is steadily ahead of the number of vaccinations. According to analysts, with such a slow pace, Ukraine will need about 23 years to vaccinate all adult citizens," said Olena Kondratiuk.
According to the Deputy Speaker, if look at the pace of the third wave of the pandemic, the graphs are close to those when in Ukraine, in January 2021, a strict quarantine was introduced.
"Everything is going to the fact that in the near future the Government will have to announce another lockdown. Therefore, this week we must make every effort to take joint action to combat the coronavirus. This should be a joint meeting of the Government and the Verkhovna Rada, the separate meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, which should be devoted exclusively to the fight against Coronavirus - the development of the joint action plan of all branches of government in case of a new hard lockdown, the probability of which, I repeat, is very high," said Olena Kondratiuk.
According to her, at this meeting it is necessary to decide on the availability of resources for the deployment of additional mobile hospitals across the country, the equipment of additional beds with oxygen. It also need to find out what urgent support the medical system and our doctors need, where and for what purposes additional resources should be directed immediately.
"We need to decide what measures to take to help small and medium-sized businesses, households and other areas that can be affected by the new quarantine. What do we have with the formation of a strategic stock of vaccines. When Ukraine will receive new batches of vaccines and from which manufacturers, in what quantity. The sooner these decisions are discussed and adopted, the easier it will be for the country and each family to endure a new lockdown," Olena Kondratiuk said.