Serbia will start receiving the US Pfizer vaccine on Monday, and is assessing launching the production of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in the country, according to President Aleksandar Vucic.
“Vaccination is of key importance, they say that it is a matter of comfort, but it is a matter of our lives. I believe that we will receive the first Pfizer vaccines in the next two or three days,” Vucic told journalists on Sunday during a visit to a new Covid-19 hospital.
He added that Serbia is also expecting the Chinese vaccine to be delivered soon, as well as the Moderna vaccine from the US.
Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar announced that starting from Monday Serbia will receive 10,000 doses from Pfizer before the end of the year, to be administered to elderly in nursing homes. Serbia has 14,000 people in nursing homes in total.
Serbia was one of the first five countries to sign a contract with Pfizer for their Pfizer/Biontech vaccine.
Last week, Vucic said his government has secured 340,000 vaccine doses to be delivered from January to March.
On Sunday, Vucic told journalists that Serbia may soon start producing the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
“I believe that there is such a prospect [of joint production of Sputnik V vaccine] and we spoke about this with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov]. If all indicators are good, and now they are positive, I believe this is possible in Serbia,” he said.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has also promised that a vaccine will arrive in Albania by February.
He personally went to the US this month, during the pandemic and despite quarantine measures in New York, to meet with the Pfizer CEO and make sure Albania gets the vaccine soon. Rama posted a photo of himself and the Pfizer CEO on social media, commenting that their vaccine is in high demand globally, however he won’t refrain from doing all he can to purchase vaccines for Albanians from other companies.
