Ukraine’s doctors pushed to the limit by COVID-19 wave

By MSTYSLAV CHERNOV and YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

KAKHOVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is setting records almost every day for coronavirus infections and deaths. Vaccination rates in Eastern Europe have generally lagged and Ukraine has one of the lowest. But the situation has turned dire nearly two years since the virus swept into Europe because of Ukraine’s underfunded and struggling health care system. That means health care workers in the southern city of Kakhovka are being stretched to the limit. One doctor works a 42-hour shift and tends to patients in a hospital and in adjacent tents before taking two days off. Only 21% of Ukraine’s 41 million people are fully vaccinated despite plentiful vaccine supplies. Many people cite falsehoods about the vaccines.