As deaths rise, anti-vaxxers find a foothold in Bosnia

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA — Hospitals across Bosnia are again filling with COVID-19 patients, and the country’s pandemic death toll is rising. Yet vaccination sites are mostly empty and unused coronavirus vaccines are fast approaching their expiration dates.

When the European Union launched its mass vaccina- tion campaign, non-member Bosnia struggled along with most other Balkan nations to get supplies. By spring, however, hundreds of thousands of doses started pouring into the country.

But after an initial rush of people clamoring to get jabbed, demand for shots quickly slowed. It is now down to a trickle even though Bosnia has Europe’s highest coronavirus mortality rate at 4.5%, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Dr. Edin Drljevic, an infectious disease specialist at one of Bosnia’s largest hospitals, in Sarajevo, thinks the disconnect is partly a result of authorities failing to properly promote vaccination against COVID-19. “At first, we only had negative publicity because of the failure to secure vaccines, but once the vaccines finally started arriving, mainly through donations, people became picky,” he said.

So far, just under 13% of Bosnia’s 3.3 million people have been fully vaccinated, among the lowest in Europe. Even people willing to get inocu- lated are putting off shots so they can choose the vaccine they want instead of receiving whichever one is available.

Bosnia currently administers the Pfizer-biontech, Sput- nik V, Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines. Astrazene- ca’s product, while the most widely available, appears to enjoy the least trust because of extensive news coverage when numerous European countries temporary suspended its use due to concerns about possi- ble, rare side effects.

“The bottom line is, people are poorly informed and lack up-to-date knowledge,” Drljevic said.

With so few takers, over 50,000 Astrazeneca vaccine doses have already expired; an additional 350,000 doses are set to expire in October

The virus has amplified the many problems Bosnia, which is still struggling to recover from a devastating interethnic war in 1992-95. Nearly half of its people live under or close to the poverty line.

Bosnia has an extreme shortage of medical professionals, as well as rampant public corruption. Several government officials are under investigation or on trial for suspected malfeasance in the procurement of needed medical equipment during the pandemic.

Health professionals and vaccine recipients note the absence of a coordinated nationwide campaign to counter vaccine hesitancy.

Meanwhile, anti-vaxxers dominate the discussion on social media and in the comment sections of news sites.