Ukraine ordered mandatory Covid-19 jabs for teachers and some government officials as the country faces growing infection rates and a sluggish vaccination drive.

Authorities in the ex-Soviet country of around 40 million people initially struggled with a lack of vaccines and are now fighting an uphill battle to convince a vaccine-sceptic population to get inoculated, AFP reports.

“The decision aims to protect the life and health of Ukrainians,” health minister Viktor Lyashko said in a statement from his ministry.

School and university teachers and some civil servants will have one month to get their first dose of a vaccine or they will be “suspended from their duties” without pay, the ministry said.