European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said Tuesday the EU will provide 70 million euros in grants for the Western Balkan countries to provide coronavirus vaccines from the bloc, MIA’s Brussels correspondent reports.
The Commissioner at a plenary of the European Parliament briefed on the EU’s global strategy on COVID-19 vaccination.
Kyriakides said that the EU through COVAX, the vaccine sharing mechanism in which the bloc is the biggest donor, will help Western Balkan countries vaccinate priority groups, including health workers and vulnerable people.
“We will provide grants for €70 million to the Western Balkans, so that they can buy vaccines from our Member States. We are also working with the World Health Organization to provide immediate support of more than €50 million for vaccination preparedness in the Western Balkans and neighbourhood countries, including Africa,” she told MEPs.
The EU has pledged to support low-income countries in getting efficient vaccines, but the process has stalled.
Even though North Macedonia was promised shots from two neighboring countries that are EU members, it was revealed yesterday that the country will receive the first batch of 8,000 vaccines from Serbia.
