”This is a big day when we have shown that we care about Bosnia and Herzegovina and have stood by its side since the very beginning of this pandemic,” said EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi at today’s handover of the first contingent of vaccines to Bosnia and Herzegovina from the European Union mechanism in Sarajevo.
He pointed out that this is a step towards getting out of the pandemic and an incentive for vaccination campaigns in BiH.
“We want to help you provide vaccines for health care workers, who are in the frontline in fighting the pandemic. These doses that we are delivering today will help the medical workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina get their first vaccination. This is a security for them, this is a security for the population in its entirety,” said the EU Commissioner.
He points out that the European Union will deliver 651,000 doses of vaccines to the entire region of the Western Balkans, while BiH will receive more than 200,000 doses only through this scheme.
“Together with the COVAX initiative, where the European Union is the biggest donor still, we are delivering almost one million doses of vaccines for the entire region. And this is only the
Austria has facilitated the sharing of these vaccines through legal arrangements with the producer and the Western Balkan partners. The doses are funded from the EUR 70 million package adopted by the Commission in December 2020 to help cover the cost of vaccines, secured under the EU’s advance purchase agreements for the Western Balkan partners. The overall distribution between countries will be based on the epidemiological needs, prioritising in first instance medical workers and other vulnerable groups.
