Following the announcement by the European Commission (EC) in December 2020 on securing a mechanism for distribution of vaccines to the Western Balkan countries through reprogramming IPA funds in the amount of EUR 70 million, the Secretariat for European Affairs said Tuesday that the tripartite agreement between North Macedonia, Austria and Pfizer/BioNTec for procurement of 119,600 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 enters into force.

“We thank our friend Austria, the other Member States and the European Commission for their solidarity. This assistance to the Macedonian citizens would not have been possible without the selfless efforts of the Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, both of whom I would like to personally thank, especially given the challenge of providing vaccines in the EU Member States as well as globally,” Deputy PM for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov said.

This agreement does not exhaust all funds, given that EUR 8.19 million were allocated to North Macedonia under the mechanism, the Secretariat said in a press release.

“In cooperation with the European Commission, the Government will continue with the negotiations on signing additional tripartite agreements until the grant funds have been finally exhausted,” said the press release, adding that this particular purchase will be delivered in four monthly shipments, starting in the first week of May, when approximately 19,000 doses are expected.

Earlier today, Austria said it plans to send 651,000 coronavirus vaccine doses, produced by Pfizer/BioNTec, to six Western Balkan countries as part of the EU assistance programme for the neighboring countries and Africa. Of those, 119,600 doses are planned for North Macedonia.