Representatives of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) held a meeting with Pfizer representatives related to the procurement of vaccines. At the same time, the Government of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) is one step closer to signing an agreement with the Chinese Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik.
The first meeting was held on Friday and was attended by representatives of the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs, as well as the American company Pfizer for the procurement of 1.25 million coronavirus vaccines for the entire BiH.
In mid-April, the entities of the FBiH and the Republika Srpska (RS), as well as the Brcko District expressed interest in procuring vaccines, through the state ministry. In the meantime, FBiH increased the amount from 500 thousand to one million doses.
So, the FBiH is ready to procure 1.000.000 doses, the RS 200.000, while the Brcko District 20.000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.
As it was found out, the dynamics of the next meetings was agreed in order to intensively meet Pfizer’s requirements to reach the signing of the contract and start the delivery of vaccines as soon as possible.
The Federal Prime Minister told yesterday that a contract with Pfizer would be signed in 15 days, but knowing Novalic’s earlier promises, it is possible that this deadline will be passed again. It is important to mention that the side of the negotiations is the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH on behalf of the entities and the Brcko District.
The FBiH has not yet managed to purchase a single dose of vaccine on its own, and negotiations are still ongoing on several sides.
That process went the best with Chinese Sinopharm with the goal of buying 500.000 doses. According to the available information, the Chinese side signed an agreement on Friday, which was sent to BiH for signature by diplomatic mail. The contract will, in addition to the representatives of Sinopharm and authorized legal representatives, on behalf of the FBiH put the newly appointed acting Director of the Institute of Public Health of FBiH, Sinisa Skocibusic.
At the same time, the FBiH and the Government of Canton Sarajevo (CS) are finalizing the procurement of 500.000 doses of Russian Sputnik, out of which 300.000 are intended for the needs of the entire FBiH, and 200.000 only for the CS. In the upcoming period, it is necessary to define the quantities and delivery deadlines, and the contract needs to be signed.
So far, vaccines have arrived in the FBiH only through COVAX and the EU4HEALTH mechanism and donations. On the other hand, RS has long been receiving contingents of vaccines that they bought from Sputnik, but that process is also quite slow.
During that time, Serbia again invited all citizens of BiH to come to their country and get vaccinated for free, and at the same time, they can choose which vaccine they want to get, Klix
E.Dz.
