SARAJEVO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The first shipment of 2,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), said Alen Seranic, Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two BiH entities, on Monday.
The vaccines will be distributed upon approval from the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of BiH.
Seranic said at a press conference that the medical professionals will be the first priority group to receive the vaccine and 400,000 more Sputnik V doses are expected to arrive soon.
On the same day, the state-owned news agency Fena reported that the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH had received a notification from the COVAX facility that the delivery of approved vaccines to BiH will begin in mid-February.
COVAX facility is a World Health Organization (WHO)-led global initiative aimed to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
BiH acquired more than 1.2 million doses through the COVAX facility as well as 892,000 doses in cooperation with the European Union (EU) vaccine program. But the COVAX facility experienced delays in vaccine delivery while lower levels of BiH government such as RS started to purchase vaccines from other sources.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.
Meanwhile, 236 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Jan. 26. Enditem
