Starting today, from February 14, Ukrainians aged over 60 will be able to spend the funds accrued under the ePidtrymka program to pay for housing and communal services. Currently, more than 3.5 million people aged over 60 already have a green COVID-19 vaccination certificate.

In addition, soon, from March 14, people with disabilities of groups I and II will also be able to spend the funds received under the program for social needs, including medicines and utility bills. Meanwhile, from March 14, all Ukrainians who have a booster vaccination against COVID-19 will be able to receive an additional UAH 500.

“To date, more than 8.6 million Ukrainians have benefitted from the ePidtrymka program. The undisputed leading direction in spending funds that our citizens received for vaccination is the purchase of books - in less than two months, Ukrainians have bought books for UAH 1 billion. Obviously, this will be a significant support for the publishing business. Older people are also actively using the opportunity to buy medicines received from the state, they have spent over UAH 300 million on these items in three weeks,” said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksandr Hryban.

In total, since the beginning of the ePidtrymka launch, UAH 8.6 billion has been transferred to Ukrainians' cards, and citizens have already spent UAH 3 billion of the funding received.

The most popular types of expenses are:

• bookstores - UAH 1 billion;
• cinemas - UAH 658 million;
• theaters, concerts and entertainment services - UAH 341 million;
• sports - UAH 340 million;
• railway and air passenger transportation services - UAH 330 million;
• medicines - UAH 304 million.

Besides, during the week, UAH 13 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. According to conditions of the program, UAH 1,000 can be obtained by the citizens of Ukraine from 14 years old who passed a full course of vaccination against COVID-19 can receive 1000 UAH.

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.