With an additional delivery of more than 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca, Austria is once again providing aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the form of coronavirus vaccine.
I am pleased that we can lend a hand to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a direct delivery of vaccine doses from Austria. The Western Balkans is an especially important region for us, which is why we want to get through the pandemic together safely,
said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Under Austrian coordination, more than 650,000 vaccine doses from the European Union have already been provided to the Western Balkan states. Bosnia and Herzegovina received 214,000 of these doses.
We can only vanquish the pandemic if we work together. Therefore, it is only logical to help our friends in Bosnia and Herzegovina to obtain the urgently needed vaccines. With more than half a million doses of AstraZeneca, we are making an important contribution to vaccination progress in our immediate vicinity,
said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.
The vaccine doses provided will leave Vienna in refrigerated trucks today, and are scheduled to arrive in Sarajevo tomorrow.
In Austria, we are now in the fortunate position of having more vaccines than we currently need. Thus, the order of the day is to act in solidarity and share some of our vaccine reserves with the countries where they are urgently needed right now. In part also because this pandemic will only come to an end if we conquer the coronavirus everywhere,
says Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein.
In addition to the Western Balkan region, Austria has shown solidarity with other states that were hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, vaccine deliveries recently went to Tunesia and Georgia, which are currently battling particularly high infection and death rates. India received support in the form of antiviral drugs, oxygen tanks, and oxygen nasal cannulae.
Furthermore, Austria supports the international COVAX AMC program with 5 million euros. A total of 92 low and middle-income countries will receive donor-financed vaccine doses through the program.
