Serbia Donates Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines to North Macedonia

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia on Sunday donated a primary batch of 8,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to North Macedonia, which is but to ship its first jabs.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev attended a border checkpoint handover ceremony of the cargo, praising friendship between the 2 neighboring Balkan states.

Serbia, a rustic of seven million, has thus far vaccinated some 600,000 individuals, primarily with the Chinese language Sinopharm vaccine and Russian Sputnik V, and to a lesser extent with the Pfizer jab. The nation has been one of the profitable in Europe by way of how briskly it has rolled out the vaccine amongst its inhabitants.

In contrast, North Macedonia, like most of different Western Balkan nations, has not but secured a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine for its inhabitants of two.1 million. Most of the states within the area are reconsidering their technique of ready for Western-supplied pictures and are mulling the acquisition of the Chinese language and Russian ones.

“A good friend in want is a good friend certainly,” Vucic mentioned, whereas Zaev praised him for exhibiting the “actual solidarity in follow.”

The vaccine handover needed to be postponed final week as a result of Pfizer and its German accomplice BioNTech had demanded “further documentation” from Serbia on the re-export of its pictures, Vucic mentioned.

Vucic’s opponents in Serbia have referred to as his vaccine donation to North Macedonia one other of his populist political strikes meant to painting him as the principle regional chief. They are saying many in Serbia are nonetheless ready in line to get inoculated with their first alternative Pfizer pictures.

Earlier this week, North Macedonian authorities signed an settlement to acquire 200,000 doses of the Chinese language Sinopharm vaccine, with which they hope to launch their vaccination program later this month.

Source link