Serbia Unveils Plan to Produce Chinese Vaccine Jointly with UAE

After meeting the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the two countries had agreed to start producing the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in Serbia by October 15.

"It will be a completely new vaccine factory for the Sinopharm vaccine, which we will make together with the Emirates and the Chinese in Serbia," Vucic told national broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia, RTS.

The Serbian President emphasized that this will give Serbia "large quantities of vaccines", enough not only for Serbia but for the whole region.

"We will have to give the vaccine to the region … because for everything we cure or prevent our people [from getting] is not worth it if there is a problem in the region," Vucic explained.

While the policy has its critics, Serbia's geopolitical balancing act between East and West has put it ahead of its Balkan peers and much of Europe in vaccinating its people against COVID-19.

Serbia has also announced plans to begin domestic production of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. Minister without portfolio Nenad Popovic said on Thursday that the "first phase" of production of Sputnik V will start at Belgrade's Torlak Institute by May 20.

He said this "first phase" includes the transport of the substance, filling bottles in accordance with the highest technological standards, ands packaging and distributing the vaccines in Serbia and the region.

Serbia is a leader of the vaccination process in Europe. Government data say that by March 8, more than 1.65 million doses had been issued, and more than 620,000 people got their second dose.

The country mainly uses Chinese vaccines, followed by Russia's Sputnik V, but also uses the Pfizer-BioNTech and...