Bosnia starts vaccination drive with Russia's Sputnik V jab

Bosnia began vaccinating its population against the novel coronavirus on Friday, using Russia's Sputnik V jab. It has been announced that only the medical staff will be inoculated for now, given the small supplies available.

Bosnia is now the third Western Balkan nation to begin vaccinating against Covid-19, after Serbia and Albania. The Balkan nation of 3.5 million people has registered 5,000 Covid-19 deaths so far. 

In the region, European Union member Croatia has also started vaccinating.

Bosnia, namely its Serb-run half of Republika Srpska, received 2,000 doses of the Russian vaccine. An additional 200,000 are expected by the end of the month and 200,000 more in March, according to the authorities.

The government hopes to receive 200,000 Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines in mid-February through the United Nations' Covax programme, set up to ensure fair access to lower-income nations.

Bosnia ordered 1.2 million doses of jabs through Covax and nearly 900,000 through the EU.