Prime Minister Edi Rama chose the 1st of January to announce the news that many Albanian were waiting anxiously in the last months: Albania has agreed with Pfizer to receive 500 thousand doses of the vaccine. The process of the vaccination will start after the third week of January, with 10,700 doses, while 30 thousand and 250 doses will arrive in February. Rama added also that 9,000 more doses will be expected also in the middle of January by two partner countries, although he didn’t mention their names. It remains still to be seen whether the agreement between Albania and Pfizer would have any impact on the donation of the 9,000 doses from the two partner countries.
Therefore, if everything goes according to the plan shared by the Prime Minister, Albania will start the vaccination process for around 10 thousand citizens until the end of January. The first in line to get the vaccine will be the medical staff, the teachers, the police officers and the elders over 75 years old. Nevertheless, the process of searching for vaccines is far from over, since Albania is still discussing with other companies and countries to secure more doses.
In his press conference, Rama repeated also his frustration with the European Union, for what he considered an absurd decision to not include the Western Balkans in the vaccination process of the EU, a decision “morally unacceptable, politically incomprehensible, and logically unjustifiable,” said Rama. The Prime Minister added also that Albania will help Kosovo to vaccinate the medical staff of Prishtina that is fighting COVID-19.
At the other hand, the leader of the opposition Lulzim Basha, reacted immediately through Twitter by saying that Rama’s government has been too slow to fight the pandemic, adding that “as always, Rama is trying to sell his failures as success stories. Albania is the country with the lowest economic help for its citizens. Rama promises to bring a small number of doses, and too late compared to the other countries,” reminding that Serbia had already started the process.
The vaccination process in Albania will take place at a dedicated space at Air Albania Stadium, that will be installed in the first week of January. This project will aim to avoid large gatherings of people in the same place.
