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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

It is necessary to increase coverage of vaccination

Belgrade, 13 July 2021

Member of the Crisis Response Team for the Protection of Public Health from Infectious Disease COVID-19 and Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs Darija Kisic Tepavcevic stated today that the epidemiological situation in Serbia has been stable in recent weeks, but that vaccination coverage must be increased so that we can be ready for autumn.

Darija Kisic Tepavcevic

Author: Tanjug

After the session of the team, Kisic Tepavcevic said that, however, in most countries there is a worsening of the epidemiological situation, which is partly related to the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus, but, above all, the reason for that is insufficient vaccination coverage.

She said that the largest part of today's meeting was dedicated to how to influence everyone to increase the coverage of vaccination, because vaccines protect against the spread of the disease, but also against deaths.

This is not only an individual, but also a collective responsibility, because with vaccination we also protect those we love the most, she said, adding that in recent days there has been a slight increase in the number of patients.

It is the holiday season, but the virus is not on vacation and that is confirmed by the number of infected people, but also by the fact that every day one of our fellow citizens loses their life, she emphasised.

According to her, among hospitalised patients, more than 99 percent are not vaccinated, while among those who died from coronavirus infection, there were no people who were completely vaccinated, which is an indicator of how important vaccination is.

She specified that in Serbia, 2,772,927 people are vaccinated with at least one dose, while 2,642,507 citizens are completely immunised.

That, as she stated, is 49 percent, and bearing in mind how long vaccines have been available to us, and the fact that the vaccine is provided for every citizen, this percentage is not enough if we want to be as ready as possible for autumn and the season of respiratory infections.

She emphasized that there are regions with a high awareness of the importance of vaccination and a larger number of vaccinated, including Belgrade, where 74.13 percent of adult residents were vaccinated in the municipality of Stari grad, and 72.53 percent at Savski venac.

Kisic Tepavcevic also stated that more than 90 percent of users and 80 percent of employees were vaccinated in social protection institutions, which led to the fact that in the previous period, only sporadic cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in those institutions.

I don't know if anyone needs more motivation than the fact that more than 99 percent of people who have been hospitalized in recent months have not been vaccinated. The vaccine saves lives, she stressed.

Kisic Tepavcevic reiterated that research has proven that vaccines are safe, and in most cases where some diseases have appeared, it had nothing to do with the vaccine, except that it coincided with the time of vaccination.