The Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zukan Helez asked the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltija (SNSD) about the procurement and distribution of coronavirus vaccines for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Who is the manufacturer of the vaccine that we will get, because it is clear to us that the vaccines are not the same. How many vaccines do we procure and at what price, and do we have a distribution plan and which population groups are a priority?” Helez asked.
He also asked who will be responsible, even under criminal charges, for all people who lose the battle with the coronavirus in the coming period and what will happen if the surrounding countries carry out immunization, and the inhabitants of BiH remain isolated in this matter, Fena news agency writes.
“We paid for and ordered 1,232,000 vaccines, for which we paid an advance of USD 1,970,000. We have paid the rest of the money, although we have not yet received the vaccines. We paid a total of 12,997,000 USD for the vaccines, and those funds were paid by the entities and the Brčko District,” Tegeltija explained.
He noted that 800,000 vaccines are intended for the Federation of BiH, 400,000 for the entity of Republika Srpska and 32,000 for the Brčko District.
“These are the first orders that will cover 20 percent of the population of BiH. According to the information we have, the first doses of the vaccine will arrive in BiH by the end of January. The entire vaccination program was defined by the entity ministries of health and the Brčko District Health Department,” added Tegeltija.
He says that BiH, in parallel with the COVAX mechanism, has joined the EU mechanism for the procurement of vaccines, through which 890,000 doses of vaccines have been contracted, and that the price of the vaccine is around ten US dollars.
