COVID-19 vaccine

Vucic said that the arrival of the vaccine is a "proof of the great friendship between Serbia and China," and it will help protect the lives of 500,000 people, adding he will get vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine.

"As an ordinary person and the president of Serbia, I am convinced of the quality of the Chinese vaccine, which will be decided by our competent agency," he said.

A number of countries, including Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan, have authorized the COVID-19 vaccines produced by China for emergency use. And many more countries, including Chile, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Nigeria, have ordered Chinese vaccines or are cooperating with China in procuring or rolling out the vaccines.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro thanked Beijing on Monday for rapidly approving the export of active ingredients for local COVID-19 vaccine production, as his government scrambles to secure scarce shots.