Albania gets 192,000 doses of Chinese Sinovac vaccine

FILE PHOTO: Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the temporary vaccine center at Air Albania Stadium in Tirana, Albania January 11, 2021. REUTERS/Florion Goga

Albania on Thursday received 192,000 doses of the Chinese Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, the first batch of 1 million secured through a deal agreed in Turkey, local media reported.

"We have secured one million vaccines," Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on his social media.

Rama said Albania signed a contract for an initial 500,000 doses of Sinovac shots, which should arrive within 60 days, and planned to inoculate 500,000 people by June. It would then decide on additional purchases of another half million vaccine doses, he added.

FILE PHOTO: A display shows vaccine products of Sinovac Biotech during a government-organized media tour showcasing the company's development of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine candidate in Beijing, China, September 24, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Albania, a country of 2.8 million people that had earlier signed a deal for 500,000 doses of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, has inoculated more than 50,000 people so far with the Pfizer/BioNTech and Russian Sputnik V shots.

Neighbouring Kosovo remains the only country in Europe that has not secured a single vaccine. Last week, Albania donated 500 shots to Kosovo medics.

(GRAPHIC - COVID-19 Vaccination tracker: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/) 

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina and Florion Goga in Tirana; Writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Bill Berkrot)