All the COVID-19 vaccines arriving in the country will be certified and safe. The application plan will be designed according to the distribution plan, said Venko Filipche on Thursday.
“We’ve been in intensive communication with Pfizer, because it is the only company so far that has provided the necessary licenses for its vaccines after being approved by both the Food and Drugs Administration of the US and the European Medicines Agency,” the Health Minister told reporters.
Filipche stressed that doses for the country had been already reserved. “The first batch is expected to arrive next month,” he said.
We, the Minister added, recently were informed that the vaccines expected through the COVAX facility will arrive in February as well.
According to Filipche, North Macedonia has been in talks with several countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and Greece, to provide the country with doses of vaccines from their own supply. “But, they have pointed out to us that main obstacle so far has been the amount they got after the European Commission’s solidarity mechanism was announced for non-EU countries, including our own. Namely, they got a tenth of what was planned for their countries,” Filipche told reporters.
The Minister said he was hopeful that the distribution of jabs would intensify after February since the companies producing the vaccine, including Pfizer, were expected to increase their manufacturing process.
