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Serbia will invest all the money it needs to start producing Russia’s “Sputnik V” coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, President Aleksandar Vučić told Reuters today.
Vučić said he reached an agreement in principle with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the start of production, which he described as “complicated and difficult”.
“At the moment, we don’t have (production) capabilities (for Sputnik V), but we will build them. No matter how much it costs, we will invest,” Vucic said.
He stated that Serbia’s goal will be to produce the Russian vaccine not only for its own needs, but also for export to countries in the region.
A team of Russian experts, Reuters recalls, should visit Serbia next week to discuss the local production of the “Sputnik V” vaccine.
Source: Reuters
For the purchase of vaccines, between 200 and 300 million euros
Reuters claims that Serbia is one of the first European countries to initiate mass vaccination, with one million doses purchased of the vaccine from the Chinese state company Sinofarm.
The agency estimates that, in this way, the country “benefited from close ties with China, which invested billions in Serbia.”
“With more than 530,000 people vaccinated against the coronavirus, which represents about 7.5 percent of the population, Serbia ranks fourth in the world in the rate of vaccination per 100 people, behind Israel, Great Britain and the United States. United, “Reuters reports.
The British agency recalls that Serbia expects to receive 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine in February, 500,000 doses of vaccine from the Chinese company Sinofarm, about 90,000 doses of vaccine from Pfizer and Biontek, as well as the first quantity of 100,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine. .
Vučić said that this year, Serbia will allocate between 200 and 300 million euros for the purchase of a sufficient quantity of vaccines, that is, up to 0.7 percent of gross domestic product, Reuters recalls.
Read more about the covid-19 and the consequences of the pandemic in the country and the world on the Coronavirus page.
