Serbia donates additional doses of vaccine to North Macedonia

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar has handed over 3,510 doses of Pfizer vaccine to the Health Minister of North Macedonia, Mr Venko Filipče, at the Tabanovce border crossing.

Mr Lončar pointed out that the agreement between Serbia President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev is being implemented in this way, reminding that 4,680 doses of Pfizer vaccines were delivered to that country at the same place, on 14 February.

"One part of the vaccines arrived when we were here at the same place. Today, we are realising the promise we made back then, brining 3,510 vaccine doses to the citizens of North Macedonia, which makes the total of 8,190 doses", said Mr Lončar to the press.

He expressed satisfaction that Serbia had the opportunity to help its neighbours and friends.

He has also stated that Health Minister of North Macedonia Mr Venko Filipče informed him about the beginning of the vaccination in North Macedonia, hoping to keep the process going.

"We want you to be safe and to minimize the incidence of infection in your country. Once your situation improves, the entire region will benefit from it. We will try to continue with our help as much as we can. This is a greeting from Serbian citizens and President Vučić to all our friends and neighbours in North Macedonia”, said Mr Lončar.

Based on Serbian experience with the vaccination, he told the citizens of North Macedonia not to feel relived once they get the first dose of vaccine.

"Some vaccines produce antibodies sooner, while others take some time, which means you should not relax yet. You have to be careful, as we have had some cases when people got the first dose of vaccine and decided to stop wearing face masks, which resulted in a number of people getting infected despite having received the first dose of vaccine, due to the insufficient number of antibodies”, said Mr Lončar.

He has also explained that Serbia is very strict when it comes to monitoring the side effects, stating that the pain in the arm and at the place where the injection was administered are the only side effects identified, as well as possible fever or fatigue, which is a usual reaction that happens with other vaccines too.

No other serious reactions to the vaccines have been identified so far, but the situation is still being monitored.

The key is to procure as many vaccines as we can, and vaccinate as many people as possible.

"Our Medicine Agency has carried out the analyses and confirmed that all the vaccines are safe. The only difference is that some vaccines produce antibodies faster than others. We cannot say for sure now if those antibodies produced faster will also reduce faster, as we need time to define that”, said Mr Lončar.

Mr Filipče expressed gratitude to Serbia for the donation, saying that it is an act of solidarity.

He has also underlined that the process of immunisation of healthcare workers in North Macedonia has already started, having 250 to 300 healthcare workers vaccinated daily.

"This number of vaccines will be enough to vaccinate all the healthcare workers in the country, and they are the priority group as they have been working with the infected patients since the beginning of the Codid-19 crisis”, said Mr Filipče.

North Macedonia has negotiations with the representatives of Pfizer on daily basis, expecting agreements to be made soon.

Mr Filipče says that they are also having talks on procuring the Chinese vaccine, hoping to have them in North Macedonia before long.

He is also expecting between 20.000 and 30.000 doses of AstraZenka vaccines in early March, as well as 100.000 doses of Russian "Sputnjik V" vaccine.