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North Macedonia Kicks Off COVID-19 Vaccinations

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service February 17, 2021

SKOPJE -- North Macedonia has launched its COVID-19 immunization campaign with doctors and other medical staff treating coronavirus patients being administered the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Dobrinka Naunova-Jovanovska, a doctor in the main COVID-19 center in the capital, Skopje, said she felt "great" after becoming the first person to receive an injection.

"It is the only way to protect ourselves from this type of infection that has plagued us for the last year [and] with which the whole world is struggling," she said.

North Macedonia, a country of 2.1 million, received a first batch of more than 4,500 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine over the weekend in a donation from neighboring Serbia.

The Serbian government also sent 2,000 doses of the Russian-produced Sputnik V vaccine to Montenegro on February 17. The donation was handed over by the Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic at Podgorica's airport.

North Macedonia's Health Ministry plans to first vaccinate medical staff working with COVID-19 patients, family doctors, laboratory staff, and then citizens over the age of 70 years.

Health Minister Venko Filipce said all medical staff are expected to receive their first shots within 10 days.

Pfizer is expected to send a shipment of about 4,000 doses of the vaccines next week, Filipce said.

North Macedonia has recorded more than 97,000 coronavirus infections and over 3,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 since the beginning of the epidemic a year ago.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/north- macedonia-kicks-off-covid-19- vaccinations/31108206.html

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.