Serbia to launch 'mass' vaccination against COVID-19

BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbia on Tuesday will begin "mass" vaccination of citizens against novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the prime minister.

Ana Brnabic on Monday said vaccination will begin with educators, members of the army and police, as well as journalists.

"We have already started inviting people. Please apply as many as possible, the faster and more efficiently we do this, the faster we will return to normal life.

"It is extremely important that we all do everything in our power to get children to go to school for as long as possible. It is especially important for the youngest elementary school students from the first to the fourth grade, to be with their teachers, to socialize, and acquire work habits. That is why we made the decision to start teaching again after the winter break," said Brnabic.

Serbia on Saturday received 1 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm.

Another 19,500 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech are expected to arrive on Monday, and 250,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine on Tuesday.

So far, 20,500 people have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus in Serbia.​​​​​​​