On Tuesday-Wednesday, Serbia expects the arrival of 250 thousand doses of the vaccine against the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus, said President Aleksandar Vucic.
“Today or tomorrow (January 19-20) we expect 250 thousand doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. Of these, 200 thousand are the so-called first dose and 50 thousand are the second. It is important that they differ in the Russian vaccine”, – the president said at the meeting national vaccination team.
He added that the mass immunization, which begins on Tuesday, includes a shipment of a million doses of vaccine from China produced by Sinopharm received on Saturday.
Earlier, Vucic spoke about the readiness of the authorities to vaccinate 80% of the population of the seven millionth country from COVID-19 with drugs from various manufacturers.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Health Mirsad Jerlek said yesterday that the majority of Serbian citizens who apply for immunization electronically or through a call center have chosen the Sputnik V vaccine against the Russian-made coronavirus.
According to him, 28% were in favor of getting the vaccine from Pfizer, 40% chose Sputnik V, and the rest of those who submitted applications do not care what vaccine to make. Vaccination in the country began on December 24 with an American-German drug produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who was the first to be vaccinated by him, pointed out that official Belgrade has agreements with various manufacturers for 8 million doses of vaccine for 4 million people.
Brnabic said last Sunday that Serbia expects 500,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines in the near future to begin mass vaccination of the population. The first batch of 2.4 thousand doses of vaccine from the Russian Federation was delivered to Belgrade on December 30, 2020. Now “Sputnik V” in Serbia is in the process of obtaining a permanent permit for use.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Health of Serbia Mirsad Jerlek, Interior Minister Alexander Vulin and Speaker of Parliament Ivica Dacic were vaccinated against coronavirus with a Russian vaccine on January 6. The Serbian government on the same day confirmed the delivery of a large consignment of Sputnik V in the coming month. The vaccine’s Twitter account stated that the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Serbian government had agreed to supply 2 million doses of the vaccine to the country.