The lagging vaccination rate in Eastern Europe

After a slightly slow initial vaccine rollout, most countries in the European Union have undoubtedly sped ahead. Unfortunately, countries in Eastern Europe are far behind, with very little hope for catching up to speed. 39% of people across the EU have had the first dose of the vaccination but in Bulgaria, only 12% have had at least one dose, which is the lowest rate amongst the 27 states that are members of the Union. For non-EU members, this vaccination situation is even more difficult as they don't have access to bulk purchases.

The poorest member of the EU is Bulgaria. They declined to order their full share of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines that were under the Union’s procurement scheme, choosing to rely mainly on AstraZeneca shots that are easier to store and cheaper as well. Unfortunately for them, the vaccines had to be suspended in March after a woman who received them passed away. However, after the situation turned even direr, they added restrictions and resumed this vaccine. The shortage of vaccines is not the only problem. Vaccine hesitancy is also turning out to be a problem in need of attention.

According to a Eurobarometer poll - a series of public opinion surveys - as of February, only 18% of Bulgarians wanted to receive their vaccines immediately, and approximately 64% thought that the vaccines had been approved too quickly in order to guarantee their safety. From this point onwards - perhaps before as well - crazy conspiracy theories started spreading like wildfire across the country - regarding the vaccine. Regardless of how bad the vaccine situation in Bulgaria sounds, in the big picture, the country is actually ahead of other, non-EU members like North Macedonia where only - approximate values - 4.5% of the population have received their first dose, and these vaccines are mainly from Russian or Serbian suppliers.

Similar situations have been occurring in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are depending on the WHO-backed COVAX initiative for their jabs. Bosnia-Herzegovina was one of the last countries to kick off their vaccination program, and they’ve been slow to arrive.

For a few countries, especially those located in central and/or eastern Europe, geopolitical factors have made a huge difference.

Compared to most EU countries, Serbia was still slightly far ahead on vaccinations/jabs for months. This supply was mainly coming from Russia and China, with whom Serbia has friendly relations.

On Thursday, President Aleksandar Vucic announced that Serbia has enough supply - of jabs/vaccines - to start to supply to other countries. It was also announced that residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to receive vaccines for free in Serbia as well.

Seeing Russia’s “vaccine diplomacy” as a power play, Ukraine - unlike a few other countries - ruled out the approval of the Sputnik-V vaccine, despite being one of the countries that were hit the hardest during the pandemic. Only 2.4% of Ukraine’s population has been vaccinated.

On Thursday, President Biden also declared that Ukraine would be one of the countries to receive vaccine donations from the US. The European Union has promised to ship more than half a million Covid-19 jabs to the Western Balkans by August. For the first time, a vaccine-sharing mechanism will be used, which is meant to help its poorer members counter the Russian and Chinese influence.

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