Ukraine bans use of Russian vaccines

Ukraine's parliament on Friday approved a bill intended to speed up the approval of COVID-19 vaccines, which also bans the approval of vaccines made in Russia.

The government has said it expects to receive 100,000 to 200,000 doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer of the US and Germany's BioNTech under the global COVAX scheme in February.

No vaccine has yet been approved in Ukraine but authorities have repeatedly said Kiev will not approve or use vaccines from Russia, with which it is at loggerheads.