Corona vaccinations in Serbia: China, Russia or the West?

China, Russia, Europe and the USA – these are the four pillars of Serbia’s foreign policy. As in the glorious times of Tito Yugoslavia, the Republic of Serbia has set itself a foreign policy of balance between the great powers in order to benefit from its independent position in the middle and from cooperation with all four. That may be an abstract – and not entirely coherent – construct of ambitious Serbian foreign policy and diplomacy; But for the ordinary Serbian citizen it is now a very specific question: Since mid-January you can register for a vaccination against Covid-19 on the Serbian e-government website euprava.gov.rs and then tick: China, Russia, or Europe-USA – which vaccine would you like? Sinopharm from China, the Russian “Sputnik V” or would you prefer the vaccine developed in Germany and produced in the USA by Pfizer-Biontech?

Hard hit by the second wave

At the beginning of the Corona crisis in March 2020, the Serbian government under the undisputed and increasingly authoritarian President Aleksandar Vucic demonstrated its openness to aid from Russia and China. According to President Vucic, European solidarity is just a fairy tale on paper, help and support can only be expected from friend and brother Xi, the Chinese President.

Serbia had caught the first wave well; but the second wave hit the country with great hardship. The seven-day incidence, which is widely regarded as a key figure in Germany, was 731.6 in Serbia at the beginning of December 2020 (in Germany the maximum value was 197.6 on December 22, 2020).

Help comes from China

Now help is coming from China again. In negotiations, Serbia has secured 6.5 million vaccine doses from different manufacturers for its almost seven million inhabitants. But what do orders and contracts count? President Vucic once again presented himself as the savior of the nation and was able to show success: On January 16, 2021, the President and the Chinese ambassador received the delivery of one million doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm at Belgrade Airport. Since then, there has been less complaining about missing deliveries or the correct sequence of vaccinations in Serbia, but bravely got going. At 6.5 percent, the proportion of the population already vaccinated is second only to Great Britain in Europe.

Anyone who decides on the Chinese vaccine when registering for the vaccination will receive an appointment within a week and can join the vaccination. According to a representative survey by the think tank NSPM, the Russian vaccine is the most popular; Almost half of those willing to be vaccinated (47.5 percent) stated that they wanted to be vaccinated with Sputnik V.

Loss of confidence in the EU

The success of the vaccination campaign in Serbia documents a loss of confidence in the EU in Serbia, which has been conducting accession negotiations since 2014, which have stalled due to the decline of democratic institutions in Serbia. At the same time, the mass vaccination is a success of the increasingly authoritarian regime. The poll in “Vreme” found a clear correlation between the willingness of the population to vaccinate and support for the ruling party of President Aleksandar Vucic.

One can, however, doubt whether vaccination in Serbia really becomes a commitment to foreign policy. In the end, the vaccine that is available is probably the best. And finally a – more or less – healthy pragmatism wins. “Vreme” quotes a 58-year-old Belgrade woman from the survey: “I would like to be vaccinated, but with the Russian vaccine. Well, there is this condition that you must not drink alcohol and smoke for this vaccine for 20 days before the vaccination. The Chinese material must then be enough for me.

Published on February 4th in IPG-Journal

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