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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Vaccination against new influenza to start in mid December

Belgrade, 26 November 2009

Serbian Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic said today that vaccination of citizens with the first 500,000 doses of vaccines against the influenza A virus (H1N1) will start in mid December and will be finished by the end of the year.

Predrag Kon and Tomica Milosavljevic

Speaking at a press conference held at the Serbian government building, Milosavljevic said that vaccinations will start immediately after the testing at the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency of Serbia is completed.

He said that the priority groups are infants from six months to two years old, pregnant women, patients with chronic diseases and employees in public companies and state institutions.

I want to stress once more that there are absolutely no reasons not to take the vaccination because it will reduce the incidences of flu, Milosavljevic explained.

Speaking about the safety of the vaccine, the Minister said that 65 million people in Europe have so far been inoculated without a single fatality or any harmful consequences.

According to the Torlak Institute, 349 persons in Serbia have been infected with the new flu virus and have 17 died, he said.

Head of the Health Ministry’s working group for monitoring and controlling the influenza A (H1N1) Predrag Kon said that the number of new cases of infection has been on the decrease, noting that the extended school break yielded satisfactory results.

It gave us a three-week respite and we are now about to finalise the inoculation process. We are preparing the distribution of the vaccine, procuring the needles and forming mobile teams, Kon stressed, noting that one team will be able to inoculate 80 people a day.

The plan is to open 106 inoculation points in Belgrade, he said, adding that 108,000 doses will be set aside for the capital from the first inoculation stage.