Croatia has donated 490,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to eight countries, including Bhutan, Vietnam, Rwanda, and Kosovo, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Monday.

Croatia has ordered enough vaccine doses to be able to donate 490,000 doses to lower-income countries in which vaccine is not as available, or too expensive. The donation was made through the WHO’s Covax programme.

By mid-November, Croatia has donated 420,000 doses of AstraZeneca to eight countries. Montenegro, Kosovo and Bhutan received 10,000 doses each, Bosnia and Herzegovina received 170,000 doses, North Macedonia 30,000, Vietnam 60,000 doses, Rwanda 100,000, and Albania 30,000. Last month, 70,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Contrary to widely-spread idea, the donated vaccine doses are not initially stored in Croatia but the producer ships the doses originally intended for Croatia directly to other countries, Jutarnji List said.