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 The batch will comprise 24,570 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines and
Moldova has received confirmation of the supply from COVAX, the
ministry said in a statement.
Vaccines will be delivered to the National Public Health Agency,
which has the necessary conditions for its storage.
The ministry said the first batches of another COVID-19 vaccine,
from AstraZeneca, would be shipped to Moldova at the end of February
and the country hoped to receive 264,000 doses of that vaccine in
the first half of this year.
Moldova registered 159,894 coronavirus cases and 3,438 deaths, as of
Feb. 1.
A small ex-Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and EU member
state Romania, Moldova has said it plans to receive enough free
vaccines through the COVAX scheme to vaccinate 20% of its 3.5
million population.
Later, Chisinau plans to purchase vaccines through COVAX at a
reduced price.
[to top of second column] |
 In December, Romanian President
Klaus Iohannis said Bucharest would donate
200,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to
Moldova, in a gesture of solidarity following
the election of the pro-Western President Maia
Sandu.
Chisinau has said it can share vaccines with its
breakaway region of Transdniestria, while
Tiraspol authorities say the region will use
Russia-made vaccines.
Transdniestria nominally seceded from Moldova in
1990, one year before the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, fearing the country might shortly
merge with Romania, whose language and culture
it broadly shares.
The separatist region fought a brief war with
Moldova in 1992 and declared itself an
independent state, though it remains
unrecognised by any country, including Russia.
(Writing by Pavel Polityuk. Editing by Mark
Potter)
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