prijava
SARAJEVO, August 10 (FENA) - The official handover of the donation of the Republic of Austria to Bosnia and Herzegovina of 500,000 AstraZeneca vaccines against COVID-19 took place today in Sarajevo.
Dušan Kojić, who addressed on behalf of the Council of Ministers of BiH, i.e. the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said that today's handover of the donation of the Republic of Austria is a clear sign of strong friendly relations between the two countries.
He thanked the Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to BiH, Ulrike Hartmann, and the Government of the Republic of Austria for their unreserved support provided to BiH since the beginning of the pandemic.
He reminded that the Republic of Austria is the first country with which BiH started the purchase of vaccines within the EU4Health program, within which 214,110 doses will be purchased.
Speaking about the manufacturers, he stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina received 1,051,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 284,310 doses of Pfizer vaccine, 90,000 doses of Sinovac, 1,090,000 doses of Sinopharm and 199,300 doses of Sputnik.
“So far, 499,813 BiH citizens received the first dose, which is 14.61 percent of the population, and 298,609 people received both jabs. We still do not have data from the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia on the number of vaccinated BiH citizens in these countries, but unofficial information available to the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that about 35,000 BiH residents have been vaccinated in the Republic of Croatia,” said Kojić.
Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to BiH, Ulrike Hartmann, expressed satisfaction that she delivered half a million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on behalf of the Government of Austria.
She added that this is a donation from Austria "to our friends in BiH, in our immediate neighborhood with which we are closely connected".
“In this way, Austria wants to make a valuable contribution to increasing the vaccination rate in this country,” stated Ambassador Hartmann.
According to her, this delivery today represents an act of solidarity with BiH.
“Since the rule 'no one is safe until everyone is safe' applies at this time of the pandemic, it is in our common interest to ensure the availability of effective vaccines in the countries of the Western Balkans,” said Ambassador Hartman.
She reminded that this is not their first support since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that Austria, among others, organized the delivery of 214,000 doses of vaccines from the EU that arrived in BiH and are still arriving.
“Thanks to the delivery from other countries too, BiH will soon have or maybe already has enough doses of vaccines available for all its citizens. It is now up to people to use them. Therefore, on this occasion, I would like to appeal to all citizens in BiH to get vaccinated. Vaccination protects your life, the lives of your loved ones and your fellow citizens,” said Ambassador Hartman.
She pointed out that the AstraZeneca vaccine, like other vaccines recognized by the World Health Organization, is a safe vaccine. She added that millions of people around the world received this vaccine and thus protected themselves. Among them is a large percentage of the Austrian population.
(FENA) A. B.
