Greece, in coordination with the European Commission, will supply 20,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Albania, as most EU countries are doing for their close neighbors.
Greece will offer 20,000 doses to Albania and 20,000 doses to North Macedonia, deputy government spokesperson Aristotelia Peloni divulged during a news conference.
The European Commission, and Member States, have taken a common EU approach to helping neighboring countries, in a sign of solidarity between nations.
Countries have pledged nearly 2.4 billion to the COVAX vaccine sharing plan, a scheme created last year in order to make COVID-19 shots more available to people in poorer nations.
COVAX is run by a number of international organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN children’s charity, UNICEF.
Six vaccines have been given “emergency use authorization” by the WHO, meaning they can be shared via COVAX: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Janssen, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. However, only Pfizer and AstraZeneca doses have been delivered so far through the scheme.
It’s not yet clear which vaccine Greece will be supplying and when this will happen.
Aristotelia Peloni added that the Greek government will follow the technical procedure so that vaccines can be delivered soon.
