Ukraine: EU Commission coordinates private donations. Drugs, vaccines, tents, beds and blankets on their way. Laptops required

(Brussels) As part of the “Stand Up for Ukraine” campaign, the European Commission has created a new system “to direct in-kind donations from the private sector to Ukraine, Moldova and the neighbouring member states of the EU, to help meet the needs of internally displaced people and refugees”. The EU will coordinate deliveries of large-scale in-kind donations of vital goods, such as drugs, vaccines, medical supplies, tents, emergency beds and blankets, the Brussels’ newsroom explained. “Deliveries will be made in partnership with the Belgian civil protection authorities and through the strategic rescEU reserve of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism”. “Such donations may help deal with the risk of epidemics and protect the most vulnerable people, especially children”. The EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (Hera) will support the EU Civil Protection Mechanism by providing children’s vaccines and other basic medical supplies with the support of the pharmaceutical industry and the Health ministries. The Sanofi Foundation is contributing to such efforts by donating 200 thousand diphtheria-tetanus vaccines. Another 70 thousand have been offered to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Moldova through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Companies “may also choose to donate other items to improve the living conditions of internally displaced people and refugees, such as laptops”: such devices are actually essential to enable Ukrainian students to keep attending school remotely. 
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