Varhelyi, Minister Joksimovic Visit Public Health Institute in Belgrade  

Oliver Varhelyi (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/DS)

EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi and EU Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimovic on May 3 visited the Institute for Public Health Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut in Belgrade. 

Joksimovic said that the EU had set aside for Serbia 36,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, out of 651,000 shots intended for the Western Balkan countries.  

Varhelyi stressed that since the Covid-19 outbreak, the EU had been supporting the region, primarily financially and now, also with vaccines.  

“I would like to thank Serbia not only for the successful inoculation process, but also for not forgetting the countries in the region, to which it has deployed 100,000 doses of Covid-19 shots. Now, we should return the favor and give Serbia a portion of those vaccines,” Varhelyi said and called on Serbia’s citizens to get vaccinated as soon as possible in order to prevent the pandemic from further endangering the lives of people and the economy.  

Varhelyi said that these vaccines had been donated at Austria’s initiative and were not part of the COVAX initiative, through which some one million doses of Covid-19 vaccines would be provided to the region.  

The European commissioner had a working diner with President Aleksandar Vucic. During his Western Balkan tour, Varhelyi will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia on May 4, and Kosovo and Albania on May 5.