In past days, there have been accusations between the authorities at different levels regarding who was in charge of procuring vaccines, and everyone is trying to pass the ball to the others. Official correspondence shows that the entities have long been informed about the procedure for the Russian and Chinese vaccines.
The authorities of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) especially often emphasize that the state is responsible for the procurement of vaccines, and assure that only it can negotiate with the manufacturers and the authorities of the countries in which the factories are located.
That the whole process is not black and white, at least when it comes to Russian and Chinese vaccines, can be seen from the documents that journalists received, and it is the correspondence of the state level and the embassies of Russia and China.
Namely, on February 2nd this year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH sent a letter to the entity governments, more precisely the ministries of health, in which it informed them that they should start the direct procurement of vaccines from suppliers.
The Ministry reached those conclusions after a meeting with representatives of the Russian and Chinese embassies, which were held on January 28th.
“It was concluded that direct procurement of vaccines from business entities based in China and Russia cannot be realized by concluding a bilateral agreement or other forms of international cooperation, having in mind that these entities do not have the necessary international legal subjectivity,” as was stated in the letter for competent ministries of entities and Brcko District of BiH, on February 2nd.”
It was also added that the competent ministries in the field of health have been provided with “contact details of business entities with which authorized medicines wholesalers can establish direct contacts for the possible conclusion of commercial contracts for the procurement of the vaccine.”
The same conclusion, meaning that these countries see the entities as a level that should initiate the direct procurement of vaccines, can be drawn from the letter sent by the Russian Embassy in BiH to the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH on January 29th.
It states that the Government of the Russian Federation has authorized the Russian Direct Investment Fund for the delivery of coronavirus vaccines for foreign markets.
“For all questions related to the modalities of concluding appropriate commercial agreements, registration, and other information related to the Sputnik V vaccine, we recommend that the competent structures from the FBiH and the Brcko District of BiH come into direct contact with the Russian Direct Investment Fund,” the letter said.
Surely, this does not mean that the state level, more precisely the Council of Ministers and other institutions, do not bear their share of responsibility nor should they be abolished in the fiasco with the vaccine procurement process.
This only proves that the Federation could and had to start the process of direct procurement of vaccines from Russia and China much earlier, Klix
E.Dz.
