Russian vaccines arrive at Sarajevo airport

Russian "Sputnik V" coronavirus vaccines arrived today in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These vaccines are allegedly intended for Republika Srpska, and must first receive approval from the BiH Medicines Agency.

At this moment, it is not known how many doses of the vaccine have arrived and whether the vaccination process will begin in the coming days, given that it has been emphasized that the Medicines Agency still needs to approve this vaccine.

The customs clearance procedure is underway at Sarajevo International Airport, and according to Srpskainfo, a small quantity of vaccines has arrived and will be delivered to the BiH Medicines and Medical Devices Agency for the procedure of its approval for the BiH market.

The public service portal of BiH, BHRT, writes that one container of vaccines for the Republika Srpska entity has arrived, but the exact number of doses is unknown.

“It was an emergency request from the RS Representation in Moscow, for a quantity of vaccines, in addition to the 100,000 already ordered, to arrive earlier in RS,” said the head of the Republika Srpska Representation in Moscow, Duško Perović.

The vaccines that arrived today are at the airport, under temperature control in a chamber, and customs import procedures are awaited. A decision from the Ministry of Health is missing because it is an emergency import.

The second, larger quantity of vaccines, which Republika Srpska purchased from Russia, is expected to arrive in the second half of February. The rest of the vaccines could be delivered by trucks with special refrigerated units and security systems, unlike this smaller quantity, which arrived by plane.

There have been talks for some time about Republika Srpska soon receiving the first doses of the Russian vaccine. RS Prime Minister Radovan Višković did not want to talk about dates because he was not entirely sure, but the entity's Institute of Public Health announced a more specific arrival time.

The last to announce the vaccines was the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, who said two days ago that they expect vaccines “any day now”, that a total of 100,000 vaccines will arrive for this entity, and that they will be free for citizens.