Osmani: North Macedonia is “Collateral Damage” of Vaccine Delivery Delay

Foreign Affairs Minister Bujar Osmani said in an interview for Belgian newspaper “La Libre” that Macedonia is “collateral damage” of the COVID-19 vaccine delivery delay in Europe. “Our country already paid for delivery of 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX mechanism, and for additional 800,000 doses directly procured from the producer Pfizer, but we still have not received a single dose. Thanks to these delays, a feeling arises among the Western Balkans that we all should’ve been part of the European programme for immunisation from the very beginning,” Osmani said. Commenting on the Bulgarian veto for start of EU accession talks with Macedonia, Osmani stated that for Macedonia there is no alternative for the membership in EU. “We need to reintroduce rationality in our bilateral communications, and debate over our history from aspect of removing stereotypes that keep us apart,” Osmani underlined.