People from Bosnia, Montenegro and northern Macedonia have seized the opportunity and gone to Serbia in the hope of getting vaccinated.
People of all ages, and often entire families, stood in the long queues, which wound their way outside the largest vaccination center in the capital, Belgrade.
– We do not have vaccines, so we have come here. We are very grateful as we can vaccinate with much faster than in Macedonia, Zivko Trajkovski tells AP.
While many of the neighboring countries are struggling to get enough vaccine doses, Serbia boasts abundant supplies. The country has the eighth highest vaccination rate in Europe.
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Both the availability of vaccines and the pace of vaccination are the reasons why the Serbian government decided to donate doses to neighboring countries.
Critics of President Aleksandar Vucic, however, claim that he is trying to increase his influence in the Balkans by distributing vaccines to neighboring countries.
Others claim that the AstraZeneca vaccine being given away is out of date and needs to be used as soon as possible. This has not been fact-checked, writes AP.
Very long traffic jams were reported across the border into Serbia on Saturday morning.
– FASTER: Many traveled to Serbia this weekend in the hope of getting the vaccine faster than in their own country. Photo: Darko Vojinovic / AP
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Chinese vaccine
The fact that Serbia has come so far with the vaccination is largely due to the fact that the government bought large deliveries of the Sinopharm vaccine from China and Sputnik V from Russia.
In addition, the country uses the vaccines Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
Over ten million of the country’s seven million inhabitants have received at least one dose.
Recently, however, the country has seen a decline in interest in the vaccine among residents. according to AP this is because an anti-vaccine movement is constantly growing.
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