Which vaccine should I choose? Serbia gives citizens choice of four coronavirus jabs

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By Euronews
A medical worker gives a shot of COVID-19 vaccine to a Serbian army soldier during the vaccination in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021.
A medical worker gives a shot of COVID-19 vaccine to a Serbian army soldier during the vaccination in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021.   -  Copyright  AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

Serbia has raced ahead of the European Union in its coronavirus vaccination drive. Now, it’s the only country in Europe where citizens can freely choose which shot they wish to receive.

Around a fifth of the country’s population – 1.4 million people out of 7 million – have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Around 500,000 have received two doses.

Under the state's mass inoculation drive, Serbian authorities have approved four jabs: the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-Astrazeneca's, China’s Sinopharm and Russia’s Sputnik V.

Those last two shots have not yet been approved for use in the European Union – of which Serbia would like to be a member – but the government has argued that vaccines should not be a geopolitical issue, but a healthcare matter.

As a result, people can select any of the four jabs. They can also state that they have no preference, in the hope of getting vaccinated more swiftly.

Bojan Brkic, Editor-in-Chief of Euronews Serbia, explains how this all works.

Watch in the video player above.