EC, Austria Will Distribute 145,000 Pfizer Doses in Albania
The European Commission and Austria will distribute at least 145,000 doses of the vaccine produced by BioNTech and Pfizer in Albania.
The Reuters news agency reports that Austria announced on Tuesday its plans to supply 651,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to six Western Balkan countries by August. It is a scheme of the European Union that aims to help fight the pandemic the neighbouring countries and Africa.
The first phase of distribution may be followed by other phases in the near future.
"With this initiative, we are showing that we are not leaving the neighbouring region behind," the Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on a press conference. “Austria has negotiated agreements between BioNTech and Pfizer and host countriesâ€, he said.
This agreement will provide a funding bridge of EUR 11 million, although the instalments will be paid from EU aid funds for EU candidate countries and potential candidate countries.
"It has absolutely nothing to do here with the provision of vaccines in Austria and other EU member states," said Schallenberg, whose government faces growing public frustration with the slow pace of vaccinations.
"These doses are not from a national quota. These are doses of vaccines that the EU has clearly provided from the beginning for the purpose of transferring them to partners."
As announced by Austria, the doses will start to be distributed from the beginning of May, giving priority to the countries that need it most. Bosnia will receive the bulk with 214,000 doses, followed by Albania with 145,000 and Northern Macedonia with 119,000. Serbia is last with 36,000 doses.