Austria To Lead Vaccine Distribution, Donation Efforts In Balkans - WHO

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2021) Austria will be in charge of the donation efforts in the Balkan countries that have been facing challenges in accessing the vaccine, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Henri Kluge told reporters on Thursday.

"The teams are 24/7 on this particular issue, not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina ... The COVAX [Facility] is now starting up, it may take a little time to be fully operational, but we're also working closely for example with the European Commission at all levels on the issue of donations, in this case to the Balkans, with Austria being the coordinator for those donations and also assisting the countries to make the bridge to that one," Kluge said.

Apart from Serbia and Croatia, most Western Balkan countries rely on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines almost exclusively through the COVAX mechanism. According to media reports, Montenegro expects 248,800 doses, North Macedonia 800,000, Kosovo 360,000, but the shipments are yet to arrive.

African Ghana became the first country to receive the vaccine from the program earlier on Wednesday.

"There are production issues ... and there we're also trying to assist to identify production sites which could help to beef [vaccine production] up," the WHO regional director noted.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most affected country by the vaccine shortage in the West Balkans. As Bosnia has still not met vaccine storage requirements, the country is unlikely to receive any vaccines through COVAX even in March. So far, only the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, got 2,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine intended for healthcare workers. Bosnian Serbs reportedly cross the border to Serbia to receive shots.

Serbia is currently one of the European leaders in the vaccination efforts. Over 1.2 million people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, more than 428,000 have been fully inoculated.