Insufficient vaccine production capacity is definitely the reason for the delayed distribution of jabs to North Macedonia. The country has done everything in its power to have vaccines delivered as soon as possible, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Tuesday during a visit to Skopje’s Shuto Orizari municipality.
He told reporters that because North Macedonia is not a member of the EU, it has signed contracts and annexes, as well as put down deposits in order to enter into agreements vaccine manufacturers.
Latest efforts, he added, have been put into acquiring the AstraZeneca jab.
“We’ve taken all steps necessary, even ordered more than needed, in order to procure vaccines. We’ve ordered 100,000 jabs from Sputnik, 400,000 from China, 800,000 via the COVAX facility, 833,000 directly from Pfizer. When you do the math, it turns out we’ll have over 2 million shots, as opposed to the initially projected 1 million,” the PM noted.
Pfizer, Zaev stressed, has announced that Albania will be the first to receive vaccines, followed by North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Shots have arrived in Albania, so we’re expecting the first batch of vaccines procured directly from Pfizer to be delivered to North Macedonia soon,” the Prime Minister underlined.
