EU believes that no one more than that will help the Balkans with vaccine

So far, EU permits have been given for using only two vaccines -- from “B O NTech/Pfizer” and that from the company “Moderna”. By the end of this week, it is expected that the European Drug Agency (EMA) will also grant authorisation for the Oxford University vaccine produced by the company “AstraZecca”.

“Pfixer” has indicated that in the following week it will distribute a smaller amount of vaccines, but that it will be compensated in February and March, when production capacities are expected to increase.

Even “The Zeneca” has yet to warn without authorising that it will distribute fewer vaccines than planned.

This has made the EU now sceptical that it can achieve the goal of vaccinating at least 70 per cent of adult citizens by the beginning of summer.

If you look at the vaccine distribution plan you will see that achieving this goal is possible”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyeen has said last Friday, speaking after the virtual EU summit.

But on Sunday, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, has acknowledged that achieving this goal is a very difficult “” following warnings of delays in the distribution of vaccines on the part of producers.

At a time when the EU has serious problems providing vaccines for itself, the last thing it can think of is how to provide vaccines for Balkan countries, which the EU has promised them. But, in the EU, they say that “is not just about ourselves, but also about our neighbours, and we are working as soon as we first give as we donate the first doses to Balkan countries”.

On Monday in Brussels, the division of vaccines with Balkan countries and those of the eastern “neighbours will also discuss the foreign ministers of member states.

In the EU insist that “no one has asked Kosovo and other countries not to provide vaccines individually” and have added that “at the end of the vaccine will be very clear that no one has helped Western Balkan countries more than us”.

“We don't want to do diplomacy with vaccines. We are trying to secure the first doses for the most endangered groups in the Balkans, as well as for health workers. We, like the EU, have also paid most of the vaccines through the Cavaks initiative. For countries in the region we have given 70m euros, of which vaccines will also be paid. The important thing is when the vaccine process will end, not when it will begin. And when the vaccine is over, nobody has helped us. But we don't want to be highly commended in public, because our interest is the health of citizens”, An EU official has said.

There is great frustration in the EU, especially with statements by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who on the one hand has criticised the EU for selfishness, and on the other hand has said the first doses of vaccines have provided them from a friendly EU country.

“What Mr. Rama says is not correct. We could have campaigned propaganda with 200 or 600 doses of vaccines, but that's not the point. The procedures are a little more complicated, and even for our countries it hasn't all worked out as planned. But we have not even forgotten the Balkan countries, which we will help <x0... An EU source has said.

In the EU, they thus reject claims that “has deceived Balkan countries by saying that they will provide vaccines immediately” and that Serbia, which has not calculated in the EU, has provided the vaccine of its citizens at a faster pace of”.

“Even if we wanted to, we could not force the Balkan countries to wait for us and not provide vaccines for themselves. Health is each government's competence for its citizens. What we've offered is help, not to prevent, for example, Kosovo, from providing vaccines”., said this source.

The EU, as well, claims it has largely helped countries in the region prepare for the vaccine, including with logistics that has been missing so far, Time conveys.

Unofficially it is taught that the first doses will come as soon as first categories are vaccinated to the EU, and they are people over 80 years of age and health workers. This is not far off, despite some delays. Also, in the EU explains that <x0donations” will come from the specific amount for EU member states, but countries in the region that will receive vaccines in such a way should also have a distribution agreement with producers. This, because of the responsibility that the producer must bear for the quality of vaccines and the eventual consequences.

It is estimated that the first amount of vaccines to be donated to countries in the region is anonymously. This, because in some EU countries, citizens may be critical of why vaccines are being sent out when not all local citizens were vaccinated.