Jabs given welcome worthy of a VIP

BELGRADE/BAKU－A COVID-19 vaccine made in China arrived in Serbia on Saturday with the kind of fanfare usually reserved for the most important dignitaries.

The shipment of 1 million doses of China's Sinopharm inactivated coronavirus vaccines at Belgrade Airport was welcomed by Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, China's Ambassador to Serbia, Chen Bo, Serbia's Health Minister, Zlatibor Loncar, and the head of the Security Intelligence Agency, Bratislav Gasic.

A vaccine made in China will also be put into use in Azerbaijan, the country's government said.

Vucic said the arrival of the vaccine in his country is a "proof of the great friendship between Serbia and China" and will help protect the lives of 500,000 people. He would be vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine, he said.

"As an ordinary person and the president of Serbia, I am convinced of the quality of the Chinese vaccine, which will be decided by our competent agency."

Serbia has procured all vaccines that have arrived so far bilaterally through "negotiating with the Americans for Pfizer, with the Russians for Sputnik V and with the Chinese for the Sinopharm vaccine", Vucic said.

Vaccinations would start once the Chinese vaccine is given final approval by Serbia's Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices.

Sinopharm's vaccine is the third to arrive in Serbia after the vaccines of Pfizer-BioNtech and Sputnik V.

Chen said Serbia and China are fighting the coronavirus side by side, and "China is the first country in the world to promise that its vaccine will be a global public good".

A COVID-19 vaccine made by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech will be used in Azerbaijan, the country's health authorities announced on Saturday.

Teymur Musayev, a department head at the Ministry of Health, said vaccinations would start on Monday, with health workers and other populations at risk as the top priority.

The first stage of mass vaccinations will cover health and technical workers at medical institutions, as well as law-enforcement staff, service people and care staff, he said.

Xinhua