15,000 doses of Clodivac vaccines against tetanus and diphtheria will provide several hospitals with the opportunity to continue the necessary vaccination programs. From the first day of the war, the shortage of drugs and specialized medical supplies in hospitals has been one of the biggest problems of the Ukrainian health service. Deliveries from Poland and Western Europe make it possible to fill the gaps in their warehouses. Before the war, Ukraine had a relatively low implantation rate, also against tetanus, not reaching the standards of the World Health Organization. Only 39% of adults are vaccinated against this bacteria.

Due to the severe course of the disease and high mortality among infected people, Polish Medical Mission in cooperation with EIT Health decided to start distributing vaccines with the anti-tetanus agent. The circumstances are not without significance - people staying in destroyed cities and shelters are particularly exposed to injuries and contact with life-threatening bacteria. The disease is not contagious, but any unvaccinated person is prone to its most severe symptoms, such as fever and sweating, seizures, and muscle spasms, leading to death in the most dramatic cases. Systematic vaccinations are the only effective defense against tetanus.

• From the beginning of our involvement in supporting Ukrainian hospitals, we have been motivated by the desire to maintain functioning facilities that will be able to conduct compulsory vaccination programs. Suspension of chronic disease treatment and prevention will lead to long-term consequences, with failure to vaccinate dangerous to the extent that it endangers the entire population in a given area. We do not leave the inhabitants of Ukraine unattended and we do not allow doctors to send patients back without help, says Ewa Piekarska-Dymus from the Polish Medical Mission.

The organization plans to extend the vaccine delivery program to Ukrainian hospitals and to maintain vaccination programs aimed primarily at the youngest inhabitants of the country. The list includes vaccinations recommended by the WHO, including vaccinations against jaundice, measles, and polio. In Ukraine, vaccination against 10 diseases is obligatory, but currently, there is a problem with access to vaccines and vaccination control among newborns and children.

• Two months ago, we had to create a system for purchasing and delivering vaccines to Ukraine from scratch. Now we are in a completely different place and we can transport the necessary assistance with special transports, without the risk of damaging the cargo. Each hospital can accept about a thousand vaccines, so one transport means at least fifteen facilities. The first batch will go to, among others, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, and Zhytomyr- adds a representative of the Krakow association. In addition, Pseudovac vaccines against the bacilli of blue oil will be delivered to Kyiv, which is used to prevent the development of infection at the site of extensive burns.