BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – The Serbian leader expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, saying he is proud that Serbia has become the first European country to give the its population the injections made in China.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Belgrade that, upon receiving the Sinopharm vaccine, “the citizens of our country expressed deep confidence in the Chinese vaccine and with it also in the Chinese state and in Chinese experts”.
This was not the first time that the populist president publicly praised China and its Communist Party leader. Vucic kissed the Chinese flag when China delivered masks and other protective equipment in March 2020 and criticized the European Union for an alleged lack of solidarity at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Vucic was less critical of the EU this time, although he said he “felt bad” when he learned that some unidentified member countries had guaranteed doses of vaccine several times above the number needed to inoculate their populations, while preventing deliveries to countries. poorest.
Although Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, at the same time it has turned to China and Russia, which have also pledged to supply large quantities of the Sputnik V vaccine developed in Russia.
Vucic’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to administer additional doses of the Russian vaccine “so that Serbian citizens can obtain reliable protection against the coronavirus as soon as possible. ”.
Vucic also said that Serbia will build a facility with the help of Russian experts to produce the Sputnik V vaccines.
There have been widespread concerns in the EU about the safety and efficacy of Chinese and Russian vaccines, as they have not followed all the required tests before obtaining approval in their countries.
However, Hungary broke away from the EU by granting provisional licenses to Sinopharm and Sputnik V. Russian scientists say Sputnik V appears safe and effective against COVID-19, according to the first results of an advanced study published Tuesday. fair in a British medical journal.
The supply of vaccines is becoming a foreign policy issue in the Balkans, which has been promised EU aid to secure aid through the UN-backed COVAX mechanism, but no injections have been delivered through the program so far.
Serbia managed to acquire the Chinese vaccine and to a lesser extent the Sputnik V and Pfizer-BioN-Tech vaccines through direct business, helping the country to launch one of the fastest vaccination campaigns in Europe.
Vucic asked China on Wednesday to deliver the rest of the vaccines requested by Serbia as soon as possible. He did not specify the amount.