Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday that Croatia would respect the position of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that the benefits of vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine were greater than the related risks.

Commenting on the situation with the COVID-19 vaccine, Plenkovic said that there was a certain number of cases where a possible link between vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine and certain side-effects had been identified.

“But, as we expected, the position of the EMA is that benefits from vaccination are greater than the risks related to it. The Croatian Public Health Institute believes that vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine can continue, and the government will comply with that position,” the PM said during a visit to Marija Bistrica.

He added that the difference in the price of vaccines – €1.70 for the AstraZeneca vaccine and €16 or 17 for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines was not due to a difference in their quality but the fact that those prices were determined by an agreement between the European Commission and pharmaceutical companies.

“Vaccines protect, and most importantly, they protect against a fatal outcome, against severe forms of the disease, severe symptoms and hospitalisation, that is the point,” Plenkovic said, adding that certain side-effects were normal when millions of people were vaccinated.

As for the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, he said that Croatia had sent very demanding technical documentation with a number of questions and that it expected information.

“We are ready to order that vaccine as well. What is important with regard to medical safety… is that we obtain confirmation from the competent institutions on the quality of individual vaccines,” he said.