Ukraine to impose mandatory COVID shots for doctors, municipal workers

Ukraine's health ministry has proposed expanding the list of occupations for which COVID-19 vaccinations will be compulsory to cover medical personnel and municipal employees, it said on Thursday.

The government already obliges teachers and employees of state institutions and local governments to receive vaccinations, without which they face being suspended from work.

The new list of roles that will require vaccination will include medical staff, municipal workers and employees of municipal companies, health minister Viktor Lyashko said.

Ukraine has registered record coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks, and the government has imposed strict lockdowns and promoted vaccination in an attempt to fight back.

The ministry has registered 3.16 million cases and 74,857 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

But Ukraine is one of several countries in eastern Europe with vaccination rates among the continent's lowest. Only around 8.3 million in a population of 41 million are fully vaccinated.