Serbian Prime Minister the first PM in Europe to receive a Covid-19 vaccine

Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabic received today the first vaccine against the coronavirus made by Pfiyer company, at the Torlak Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera.

Brnabic, who is the first European Prime Minister to receive the vaccine, pointed out that this day may be the first since 6 March that we have a reason for a smile on our faces as it marks the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Serbia, but also in Europe and the world.

As Prime Minister and as soeone who leads the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team, I felt obliged to be the first to receive the vaccine, to show that we beleive in it, as well as in our institutions - the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency of Serbia and expert who worked round the clock to test the vaccine, she said.

Underlining that it was an honour to do this for her country and be the first to pave the way for all citizens, the Prime Minister said that she agreed with President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic that the two of them receive different vaccines, so he will most likely receive the next one that arrives, most probably the one produced by China.

At the moment we have the Pfizer-BioNTech consortium vaccine, and the vaccines from the Chines Sinopharm are expected in the near future, as well as certain quantities of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

She expressed her believe that at the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter of next year we will have the vaccine of the company AstraZeneca, and after that the vaccine manufactured by Moderna.

As we promised, all vaccines licensed in their countries and approved by relevant international agencies will be available to our citiyens, and of course they will be tested by all of our agencies and institues as wll, the Prime Minister pointed out.

She said that prior to the vaccination of health care workers, Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncaar will also receive a vaccine shot as we endeavour to serve as an example and show confident we are in the vaccines and institutions.

Brnabic pointed out that Serbia, not counting Great Britain, is the first country in Europe to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the third to start a mass immunization and campaign for giving the vaccine - after Great Britain and Switzerland.

We achieved something very important and we will not stop even for a moment until the immunization of the population is completed, the Prime Minister said.

She specified that our country will receive another 16.000 doses of Phizer-BioNTech vaccine in January, as well as that together with other vaccines we will have a total of one million doses in January, and a total of approcimately two million doses during the first quarter of next year.

There is a dynamic on which Phizer delivers vccines and it varies depending on the production, and this is the case with deliveries to both Serbia and all other countries worldwide, We expected to receive 10.000 doses form Phize-BioNTech in December, however 4,807 doss arrived, the Prime Minister explained.

Serbia demonstrated that it is able to fight and succees if we all work as a team, Brnamic said and calle on all not to see the beinning of vaccination as the end of the fight already, but to continue to apply all measures instead.

This is to be certain and to be able to help our health care workers, and once the immunity is asquired we will be able to slowly start taking off the masksin 2021, but until then we should not see this as a victoru but as the beginning of the end , the Prime Minister concluded.

After the Prime Minister, vaccine shotswere also administered to the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs and a member of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team darija Kisic Tepavcevic and to Predrag Kon who is also on the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team.

Furthermore, vaccine shotswere also given to Head of the MMA Department for the Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infections prof. Dr. Vesna Suljagic and academician Predrag Pesko, professor of Belgrade and Heidelberg universities and full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The first quantities of the vaccine arrived in Serbia on 22 December, and today they will be administered to patrons of nursing homes in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

Serbia is the first country in the region to receive a shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In addition to procuring the vaccine among the first countries in the world, even before EU countries, Serbia is one of the rare countries that managed to build and open two covid hospitals in record time The hospitals with 930 beds in Batajnica and 500 beds in Krusevac are a major contributin to the expancion of capacities and strenghtening the health care system in the fight against coronavirus and, as President Vucic said, represent a monument of the future, that will talk about the accomplishments the state made in a short time.

aslo, we recall that investments in health infrastructure have been large in Serbia, and since 2016, 80 health centers and clinics have been renovated, and worksare underway onsix large health centers. This way more than EUR 200 million was invested in the reconstrucion, construction and equipping of hospitals and more than 300 million in the renovation of clinics and specialized hospitals, and many have already been completed such as the University Childrens Hospital Tirsova, and KBC Zemun and KBC "Dragisa Misovic" hospitals.

The absolute priority of the Serbian Government is the successful completion of health infrastructure project that are underway, but great attention is also paid to health workers, whose salaries have, by 2020, been increased by 56,8 % for specialist doctors and 66,9 % for nurses, while significant fundingis invested in the education of health professionals, as well as in equipment and working conditions.

Like other countries, Serbia has faced great challengs this year, most notably health challenges, and all factors in the state were focused on preventing the spread of the virus and safe guarding the lives and health of citizens. Serbia has faced these challenges better than many wealhier and more developed countries in Europe and the world.

Belgrade,

24 December 2020