President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic welcomed a plane at the "Nikola Tesla" airport, which delivered to Serbia the vaccines made by "AstraZeneca" company. President Vucic pointed out that the 150,000 doses that arrived this morning meant that 150,000 more persons would be vaccinated in Serbia, and added that Serbia, along with the UAE, became the only country in the world that had more than three vaccine types available.

"People's health is the most precious of all and what we should invest in the most. Revaccination is due in 12 weeks, and we have a contract for new doses, so this means that 150,000 more persons will be vaccinated in Serbia. I am proud of Serbia, of the responsibility and seriousness we have shown in the fight for the health of our citizens, for the preservation of life and the progress of the economy in our country", President Vucic said.

The President expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, as well as to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

"This took a lot of effort on the part of our country, but also on the part of our friends from the United Kingdom and India. I pleaded with Boris Johnson and some others in the UK Government. I would also like to thank both the Indian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. I thank them for their willingness to hear us out, for the attention they paid to one small Serbia, and for the vaccines arriving in Serbia first", President Vucic said, adding that the price at which the vaccines were procured was absolutely the most favorable.

President Vucic said that Serbia, along with the United Arab Emirates, became the third country to have more than three vaccine types at its disposal, and pointed out that the "AstraZeneca" vaccines would be available to citizens from tomorrow.

UK Ambassador to Serbia Sian MacLeod said that she was proud that the "AstraZeneca" vaccine was developed at the University of Oxford, and that young scientists from Serbia also participated in its development.

"I am glad that the vaccine will be available around the world, which gives us hope in the fight against the coronavirus", the Ambassador said.

With today's delivery Serbia became one of the few countries in the world where citizens will be able to choose among four different vaccines against coronavirus - namely, the U.S.-German "Pfizer-BioNTech", Russian "Sputnik V", Chinese "Sinopharm" and the British-Swedish "AstraZeneca".

Belgrade,
21 February 2021