There are no preventive children's vaccines against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus in Kiev, even in private clinics, UNN reports.
As the correspondent of the newspaper who phoned most of the capital's medical institutions found out, the next date of vaccine delivery is expected next month at best. Doctors do not know how to adhere to the immunizations schedule in this situation.
According to the schedule, the DTP should be vaccinated four times: the first – at 3 months, the two following (in the absence of contraindications) – with an interval of 45 days, the fourth (revaccination) – at 1.5 years. It is reported that if the next vaccination is missed, the preventive vaccination will have to be started anew.
The edition writes that the international purchases of medications in general and immunobiological ones in particular are the responsibility of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine and personally Ulyana Suprun, the Acting Minister. However, there is no information on the problem with vaccine on the website of the Ministry of Healthcare and the Suprun’s page on Facebook. There are only tips for eating ice cream when get sick with sore throats, for first aid with a dog bite and for information on increasing the incidence of diphtheria with calls to vaccinate children and adults from this disease.
It is noted that timely vaccination is the only way to protect oneself against infection and dangerous complications. The message of the Ministry of Healthcare on July 13 also says that a safe vaccine is available in all regions of Ukraine and is provided free of charge. But in real life, as of July 23, both the DTP Infanrix IPV vaccine and foreign analogs are absent even in the capital clinics, both public and private ones.
