Serbia becomes first country to use Chinese vaccine against COVID-19

Health officials and hundreds of soldiers without uniforms have waited in line to get the first dose of this vaccine in Belgrade.

This is the only way to get back to normal life”, Serbian Health Minister Zlatko Lloncar said on January 19th, who was the first person to receive this vaccine through a television broadcast.

These are all very safe vaccines”, Lloncar from the Institute of Virology in Belgrade said.

Serbian Defence Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has said he and more than 700 army members have been vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine.

The Sinopharm company's vaccine has become a source of controversy in Western states.

China has approved the use of this vaccine late last year.

Although no detailed data on the efficiency of the vaccine has been published, the company that produced it has mentioned 79 effects of the vaccine, based on initial data.

This figure is less than 95 percent effective, it is reported to have vaccines produced by the West, such as companies, Pfizer/ B NTech or Modernna.

Serbia, which last week has accepted 1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, has close ties to Beijing, while Chinese companies have invested billions of euros in this Western Balkan country of 7 million people.