“The majority of the vaccine shipments are expected to be delivered within 2021. We are negotiating with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to provide more vaccine quantities. We are waiting and we expect more Pfizer vaccine shipments be delivered in April and May. We also expect to receive around 80,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses for the highly-risked groups through the COVAX mechanism,” Manastirliu said.

Health Minister noted that the government is making efforts and working for months now to secure sufficient vaccine doses.

“We all know that the vaccine is the only weapon in the world and the government has made efforts to secure vaccines at a time when deliveries were yet to be made to other countries in the region, except Serbia. COVAX is a mechanism that you should prepay for the vaccine deliveries. We have prepaid for the vaccine quantities that would be enough to vaccinate 20% of the population. We have secured 1.14 million doses through Covax,” she said.

Manastirliu noted that the vaccines are certified by the countries where they are manufactured and researches prove their effectiveness and safety to use.

/m.m/u.sh/