Vaccine exposed the authorities, politicians value us more dead!

By: Ernad Metaj 

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The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Zoran Tegeltija, praised Serbia at the beginning of the month as one of the leaders in the EU in vaccine procurement. That statement most vividly shows the shamelessness of politicians in BiH. That same Tegeltija is one of the most responsible for BiH being at the world's tail end in vaccine procurement. Tegeltija and those like him, while applauding neighbors and their own helplessness, endanger the safety and lives of the inhabitants of their own country. The message to the citizens of BiH from all levels of government regarding vaccines is that their lives are worth nothing to politicians. They might value us more dead, because then we will surely vote for them.

When it comes to vaccines, BiH has mostly relied on international programs intended for poor countries. And they failed there, not to mention lied. As early as August 2020, the federal minister of health announced the procurement of 800,000 vaccines worth 13 million dollars. There are still no vaccines, and in the first contingent through the already significantly compromised COVAX system and the world solidarity system, BiH will not receive more than 180,000 vaccines.

On the other hand, the slow implementation of COVAX serves Milorad Dodik perfectly to hide his own unfulfilled promises. Dodik's constant clamor has drowned out the story from over three months ago about procuring vaccines from Russia, enough for every resident of Republika Srpska. According to Dodik's story, 200,000 doses were supposed to arrive by New Year. With a delay, 10 times fewer vaccines arrived in Republika Srpska because the "boss from Laktaši" does not have the reputation in Russia and China that Aleksandar Vučić has. The greatest achievement of Dodik's preventive care for citizens remains the procurement of a prefabricated hospital from which no citizen has benefited. To be precise, vaccines have shown the modesty of the international reputation of all domestic politicians, of which only their managerial abilities to properly do their entrusted job are smaller.

The director of the Public Health Institute from Grude showed that procurement channels can be found on the market, no matter how overwhelmed with demand. The problem was that the 20,000 agreed-upon vaccines were intended for commercial use, which the authorities from higher levels, having been burned by the procurement of ventilators, did not dare to support. It is symptomatic that it did not occur to anyone that these vaccines, since they were already reserved, could be used to protect citizens according to the adopted vaccination plan, which still has no greater value than toilet paper. Why would anyone bother with a vaccine if they can't make a good profit from it? Such an attitude by the authorities from the FBiH only reinforces suspicions that ventilators, which are objectively only auxiliary health equipment, were not procured out of concern for the health of the population.

The Sarajevo political alternative has not distinguished itself with vaccines either, and it seems they would prefer to observe the consequences of the pandemic from the air, in a helicopter that is becoming a kind of counterpart to "A Streetcar Named Desire." It is commendable that, unlike other cantons, they dared to embark on independent procurement, but big words require big deeds. For now, they remain at the drive-in point for mass testing, which is no longer even a good marketing move.

To put it briefly, the pandemic has only exposed the essence of politics in BiH. Apart from daily bickering with political opponents, there is still no sign of serious politics or an individual who could offer citizens anything more than poverty, in which we are unequivocally first in Europe.