150,000 doses of AstraZeneca Arrive in Serbia  

Vaccine AstraZeneca in Belgrade (BETAPHOTO/SERBIAN PRESIDENCY/DIMITRIJE GOLL)

The first batch of a vaccine against Covid-19 created by AstraZeneca, a British–Swedish biopharmaceutical company with headquarters in Cambridge, has arrived in Serbia.

Speaking at the Belgrade airport, where he had received the initial consignment of 150,000 doses, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that, aside from the United Arab Emirates Serbia, was the only state that had made available to its citizens more than three types of Covid-19 vaccine.

"It took a lot of effort, but we have succeeded thanks to our friends in Great Britain and India. I begged [British Prime Minister] Boris [Johnson] and some other people, not to reveal everything, and I would like to thank them for their support, for being willing to hear us out, and for the attention that they have had paid to our small Serbia," Vucic said.

The British ambassador, Sian McLeod, explained that the AstraZeneca vaccine was developed at the University of Oxford, and that the team of scientists that worked on it also included young people from Serbia.