Ukrainians living abroad spoke about their experience of vaccination against COVID-19

Mass vaccination against COVID-19 has already begun in the world. Health workers and the elderly are primarily vaccinated. Edition "Voice of America" told about three Ukrainians in Israel, the Czech Republic and Great Britain, and they shared their experience, and also talked about how they decided to be vaccinated and with what drug.

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All three said that the vaccine is primarily given to hospital workers and the elderly, and it was a US-German vaccine produced by Pfizer. They also answered the question of whether they would have been vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

Ilya Sokolov (Israel)

“I work in the largest hospital in Israel, so it was very easy for me to get vaccinated. I wrote what I wanted, and here you go. Now not everyone can do this. At the moment, this opportunity is available to people over the age of 60, medical workers and policemen,” explains Ilya. — Vaccination is optional. From what I know, 85% of doctors went and did it. They may not do it if the person has already had COVID-19. This is what the Ministry of Health decided.”

“All invitations for vaccination were received via SMS. If a person has been sick, he will not receive a notification invitation to get vaccinated, says Sokolov. “You don’t need any preparation: you come to the hospital, they give you an injection and you need to stay on the spot for 15 minutes to see that you feel well. If you feel good, you can go home. The vaccine is American - Pfizer. But I heard that Moderna is already on its way to Israel.”

“After the vaccination I felt good, the next day there was some pain in my arm, but it was mild, so I didn’t pay attention to it,” Ilya said about his experience. — Two weeks before the COVID-19 vaccination, I also received a flu shot. I didn’t feel anything either after the first or after the second vaccine. I love to travel, so when I get my second dose, I will immediately fly to Europe. I'm a person who can't sit still."

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Ilya said that before vaccination he read a little about the drug, but he trusts the vaccine, because it was developed in the USA, and the first person to receive the vaccine in Israel was the country’s prime minister.

But he does not trust the Russian vaccine at all. And if he was offered to be vaccinated with this vaccine, he would refuse. Ilya has the same attitude to the Chinese vaccine.

Elvira Balaz (Czech Republic)

“I'm a health worker. First of all, vaccinations are given to health workers and people of mature age - pensioners. Vaccination began on December 27,” says Elvira. — For doctors it is voluntary. Within a week, 95% of our employees were vaccinated.”

“There was and still is fear. Therefore, those 5% probably do not want to get vaccinated yet. We talked with colleagues and came to the conclusion that we simply have no choice if we want this disease to disappear,” says the Ukrainian woman. — We agreed as a team that after a certain period we would check the blood for antibodies. We ourselves are interested in what the results will be after the vaccine, we constantly talk about this.”

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“Before vaccination, there is an examination by a doctor. You will be asked if anything hurts, if you are afraid, if you have any illnesses, or maybe you have had COVID-19. The vaccination itself is painless,” explains Elvira. — There was no temperature. My colleagues have already been vaccinated for a week, and absolutely no one has had any complications. At first, people in the Czech Republic were more skeptical about vaccination, but attitudes are changing every day. We want the borders to open, and we want to return to the life that was a year ago.”

Elvira says that it was very important for her what kind of vaccine she would receive, and she would have chosen only Pfizer, but the Ukrainian does not trust the Russian vaccine.

Roman Sin (UK)

“I'm waiting for the vaccination. This will happen at the end of this or early next week. My wife has already been vaccinated for the first time, and is now waiting for the second dose,” said Roman. — 90% of vaccinations are done by family doctors. Through our clinics and home services. Family doctors go to nursing homes and give vaccinations there. Most people come to their family doctor's clinic and receive the vaccine. Until recently, there was only the Pfizer vaccine, but now AstraZeneca is also being distributed.”

There are contraindications to the vaccine - severe allergic reactions. It is contraindicated for pregnant women.

“Everyone will be vaccinated, because it is unknown how long it takes for those who have already had the disease to develop immunity to this disease. Some say several months, others say a little longer. The argument in favor of vaccinating the entire population is that re-infection is possible, explains the Ukrainian. “Very often a person feels weak and the shoulder into which the vaccine is injected hurts. But after two or three days he feels fine and can return to work.”

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“The state has made it quite clear that there is no increased risk in these vaccines compared to other drugs. Almost 2 million people have already been vaccinated, and statistics show that this vaccine is no more dangerous than any other. It’s still too early to talk about effectiveness, but studies show very high effectiveness. Therefore, the medical community is very positive towards the vaccination campaign,” Roman shares his opinion.

“Undoubtedly, if there was a choice - to get vaccinated now or in ten years, then everyone would say that ten years is enough time to see the result. Unfortunately, in some cases we do not have this privilege. “I agree that there is fear, and this is normal, but this must be balanced against data that shows a fairly positive effect from the vaccine,” says the Ukrainian. “And you have to think not only about yourself.” Doctors are really waiting for data that vaccinated people do not passively transmit the virus, that is, I will be immunized from the virus. And secondly, I will be able to prevent the spread of the virus - this is a double positive effect of the vaccine.”

Roman would also refuse the Russian vaccine, because it has not yet passed the 3rd phase of testing, so it is difficult to talk about its safety. But I would not have been vaccinated with the Russian vaccine yet because of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia.

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