Following the COVID-19 pandemic – which disrupted immunisation efforts around the world – data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows Ukraine made remarkable progress restoring its inoculation programmes. 

However, the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022 has wreaked havoc with the country’s health infrastructure, displaced millions, and led to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and pertussis.

In an interview with UN News’s Evgeniya Kleshcheva, the national official who oversees immunisation at the WHO Country Office in Ukraine, Yevgenii Grechukha, outlines the severe impact of the war, highlights the fight against vaccine misinformation, and how the UN agency’s been working to improve access for those displaced.