BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – The Czech Prime Minister visited Serbia on Wednesday to learn more about the Balkan country’s massive vaccination program with Chinese and Russian vaccines that have not yet been approved by the European Union’s drug regulator.
The Czech leader, Andrej Babis, is looking for vaccines outside the EU’s joint program, after the delivery of the EU-approved Western medicine companies was delayed. With a team of experts, Babis also visited Hungary last week, which was the first EU country to give the green light to the Russian vaccine.
Thanks to the Chinese and Russian vaccinations, Serbia is currently second in Europe after Britain in the rate of per capita vaccination.
“I have tried to gather so much information about other vaccines that have not been approved,” Babis said in Belgrade after meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
Before the trip, Babis told reporters that the Czech Republic was not ready to use the Russian Sputnik V vaccine before it won the European nod of the European Medicines Agency. He said in Belgrade on Wednesday that his EU country wants to be “ready” as soon as the approval comes in.
“It is of utmost importance to us to get as many safe vaccinations as possible,” Babis said. “We have to abandon politics and talk about people’s health, because the (virus) situation in the Czech Republic is not good.”
The Czech Republic, a country of 10 million, has recorded more than 1 million infections and seen more than 17,600 confirmed virus deaths.
Serbia has so far vaccinated more than half a million people, mainly with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, the Russian Sputnik V and to a lesser extent with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. The populist Serbian leadership has forged close ties with China and Russia, both competing for influence in the strategically important southern European region.
Brnabic said the country’s experience with all three vaccines was ‘excellent’.
Babis’ visit included a tour of a mass center in Belgrade. Officials announced a new round of mass vaccinations with the expected arrival later Wednesday of another 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine in China.
The Czech Ministry of Health has announced that a delivery of Moderna vaccine scheduled for Monday will be delayed by one week and that only half of the expected slumber, 44,000, will arrive.
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