Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that Russia was willing to deliver its Sputnik vaccine against COVID, and that Croatia's HALMED agency for medicinal products was now considering what could be done to procure that vaccine in compliance with the EU acquis.

Concerning the topic of vaccine supplies, Plenkovic said that last week talks had been held by pharmaceutical companies and the European Commission’s representatives and that he expected that the delivery of vaccines would be ramped up and that more than 600,000 doses would be sent to Croatia by the end of March. He also expects higher amounts of vaccines in the second quarter of 2021.

Russia is willing to deliver its Sputnik vaccine to Croatia, he added.

We are now, together with the Croatian agency for medicines, considering the legal ways to make that delivery possible, in compliance with the EU acquis , the Croatian PM said.

The public health safety rule implies applying the European Medicines Agency (EMA) filter, and once it is approved by the EMA, this will enable us to use the vaccine concerned in Croatia, Plenkovic said.

Plenkovic had held talks with the ministers of health and foreign affairs on this topic.

‘Everyone should adhere to the vaccination plan’

As regards the vaccination rollout plan, Plenkovic said that he expected everyone to adhere to the plan adopted by the authorities.

The premier also welcomed the detailed protocols prepared by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) for that purpose.

“Our target is to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible, and in parallel we should adhere to the concept of giving priority to those who are at the highest risk,” he said, adding that all should stick to the priority groups.

As for the decision by the county institute of public health in Rijeka that doctors would not administer shots of AstraZeneca to people above 65, Plenkovic said that it was unacceptable.

“It is out of the question for a county institute to deter senior citizens from being inoculated with that vaccine,” Plenkovic said during his visit to the southern city of Dubrovnik where he formally opened a HRK 219 million student dormitory.