The first contingent of Russian vaccines “Sputnik VE” arrived at Sarajevo airport yesterday. It is a smaller amount of vaccines of two thousand doses, which are intended for the Republika Srpska (RS).
A customs procedure was undertaken, after which the vaccines will be sent to the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), for checks and procedures. According to the announcements, vaccination should start in the second half of February, BHRT writes.
”RS Headquarters for Emergency Situations has given its consent to allocate more than 15 million BAM for the procurement of the Russian vaccine for the needs of vaccination of 200.000 citizens in the RS, ” said the Republic Minister of Health and Social Welfare Alen Seranic.
The first contingent of the Russian vaccine for the RS arrived at Sarajevo airport yesterday, and Seranic said that it was about 2.000 doses needed to vaccinate 1.000 people.
“It is common to first send a smaller contingent of vaccines because we have to go through certain procedures when it comes to vaccine import. It is necessary to control the quality of the series, so that certain quantities will be distributed to the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH,” Seranic said at the press conference in Banja Luka.
After that, he added, that it is possible to work under the plan of the Institute of Public Health and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the RS.
“The priority group for vaccination is health workers in covid departments because they are at the highest risk. The next quantity of the Russian vaccine for vaccination of 100.000 people should arrive in the second half of February, while the next quantity is planned for March “, Seranic noted.
Seranic said that it is especially important that RS ensures all the capacities for storing the vaccine, so that the quality of the vaccine is not questioned, and explained that the Russian vaccine is stored at a temperature of minus 20 degrees and that after thawing it should be used within next two hours.
Seranic explained that the vaccine will be stored at the Institute of Public Health and that immediately before the vaccination, in transport refrigerators, it will be delivered to health institutions, where health workers in covid departments will be vaccinated.
According to him, the Institute, in cooperation with the company “M: tel”, will enable the activation of the call center, through which citizens will be able to apply for vaccination and get all the necessary information.
