Most often, official theses about vaccination came from two officials - IMI study

Most often, official theses about vaccination were voiced by two Ukrainian officials, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. These are the findings of the IMI monitoring study held in December 2020 - January 2021 in 20 online media *.

As for politicians, the most often the press was citing the politicians: MP from “Servants of the People” Mykhailo Radutsky, Yevheniya Kravchuk, MP from “Holos” Oleksandra Ustynova, and MPs from OPFL.

The Ministry of Health's messages about vaccination in mass media were clearly inconclusive. The news items could be found side by side in the same newswire saying that a mass coronavirus vaccination with European / US vaccines has started in the world, and immediately that Ukrainians expect the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac (Sinovas), which, according to the latest Brazilian research, has low efficiency :50.38%

Ukraine is going to purchase. The effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine was below 60% - media / HB

Scientists have found out: effectiveness of COVID-vaccine Sinovac : 50.3% / Ukrinform

The effectiveness of the vaccine purchased by Ukraine Sinovac - not 78%, but 50.38% - Brazilian scientists / "Censor"

In response, Stepanov promised that if the Chinese vaccine was less than 70% efficacious, Ukraine would get its money back.

In addition to this, mass media revealed a tip from a MP Ustinov saying, the authorities thwarted  an agreement for purchase of "US vaccine, which now is bought worldwide: acting In a manual mode, Stepanov ordered to suspend this purchase ... at the same time, the minister ordered to purchase the vaccine at Chinese manufacturer, much more expensive and less efficient than the one Ukraine had to buy. "

Ustinov on Sinovac vaccine: Stepanov chose an expensive and ineffective vaccine / "Censor.NET"

MP Ustinova said that the Ministry of Health thwarted purchase of vaccine against COVID-19, which is six times cheaper than the Chinese one. The department responded / "Gordon"

In this aspect, the pro-Russian mass media 112.ua and "Strana" emphasized that the authorities "knocked dcown vaccination of Ukrainians" and no resuscitation will work anymore. And no matter what new options could be offered by government, US vaccines Pfizer, Moderna, or British Astra, the only solution could be Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which Medvedchuk had previously agreed with Russia:

Suchkov: The government discredits the Sputnik V vaccine in the interests of US multinational companies / 112.ua 

At the same time, Foreign Minister Kuleba criticized the Russian vaccine not only for its medical ineffectiveness, but also for propaganda of vaccination with the Russian vaccine in Ukraine:

Kuleba: Propaganda options for Russian vaccine Sputnik V far exceed its real efficiency / "Gordon"

Propaganda capabilities of Russian Sputnik vaccine exceed real ones - Kuleba / LIGA.net

* The monitoring analysis was conducted bymeans of customized Google Advanced Search queries and IMI's internal monitoring work from December 21-27, 2020 and January 11-17, 2021 in 20 national online media (eleven top-rated, seven media that signed the memorandum to the Media standards, as well as two sites that have expressed a desire to be on the list of media subject to monitoring): obozrevatel.com, korrespondent.net segodnya.ua, 24tv.ua, tsn.ua, strana.ua, pravda.com.ua, politeka .net, rbc.ua, 112.ua, gordonua.com, nv.ua (М), liga.net (М), ukrinform.ua (М), zn.ua (М), censor.net.ua ), tyzhden.ua (M), interfax.com.ua (M), suspilne.media (M), bykvu.com (M). The total sample was 1073 materials.

This study was made possible by the support of the American people through the USAID Media Program in Ukraine, implemented by the international organization Internews Network. The contents are the sole responsibility of the Institute of Mass Information and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the US Government or the Internews Network.