Serbia receives 1m Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines from China
Belgrade: A million doses of China’s Sinopharm inactivated coronavirus vaccines arrived at the Belgrade Airport in Serbia on Saturday, the government confirmed in a press release.
The shipment was welcomed at the Belgrade Airport by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, China’s Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo, Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar and the head of the Security Intelligence Agency Bratislav Gasic.
Mr Vucic said that the arrival of the vaccine is a “proof of the
great friendship between Serbia and China,” and it will help protect the lives of 500,000 people, adding he will get vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine.
“As an ordinary person and the president of Serbia, I am convinced of the quality of the Chinese vaccine, which will be decided by our competent agency,” he said.
Mr Vucic stated that Serbia has procured all vaccines that have arrived so far bilaterally through “negotiating with the Americans for Pfizer, with the Russians for
Sputnik V and with the Chinese for the Sinopharm vaccine.”
The vaccination would start once the Chinese vaccine gets a final approval by Serbia’s Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices. Serbia has reported nearly 370,000 COVID-19 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, while 3708 people have died. A total of 5409 patients are hospitalized across the country, of whom 196 are connected to respiratory ventilators.