At the beginning of the week, teenagers have opened 40,000 accounts within the ePidtrymka intiative. Adolescents aged over 14 who have Ukrainian citizenship and two doses of COVID-19 vaccination have been able to join the program since February 7. Also on Monday, the Government expanded the list of business areas in which the money can be used. In particular, now UAH 1,000 can be spent on educational services, children's extracurricular activities, staying in a summer or sports children's camp, sporting goods, stationery, school supplies.

"To date, about 75,000 adolescents have received a full course of vaccination against COVID-19, more than half of them, 40,000 people, have already registered ePidtrymka cards and joined the program. The expansion of the program is an important step to encourage vaccination among young people, as well as support the areas of business that have suffered the most from quarantine restrictions," said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksandr Hryban.

Currently, more than 8.2 million citizens have already benefited the program ePidtrymka. In total, since the beginning of its launch, UAH 8.25 billion has been transferred to Ukrainians' cards, and citizens have already spent UAH 2.8 billion of the funding received.

The most popular types of expenses are:

• bookstores - UAH 987 million;
• cinemas - UAH 610 million;
• theaters, concerts and entertainment services - UAH 322 million;
• sports - UAH 314 million;
• railway and air passenger transportation services - UAH 312 million;
• medicines - UAH 252 million.

Besides, since the beginning of the week, UAH 1.7 million has been spent on educational services, school supplies and sports goods.

It should be noted that the ePidtrymka program initiated by the President of Ukraine is aimed at encouraging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and supporting those sectors of the economy that have suffered the most from quarantine restrictions.

The official start of the program took place on December 19, 2021. The program will last a year - until December 18, 2022, and will be implemented in several stages. In the first stage, the funds will be received through the Diia application. In the second stage (II-III quarter of 2022) there will be offered an alternative offline mechanism, which is currently being elaborated. People who do not have smartphones will be able to apply for help offline.