Bosnia and Herzegovina timely met all conditions set by the COVAX mechanism and paid the required amount for 1,232,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines against Covid-19, the Civil Affairs Ministry, which is the country's contact point with the COVAX, said on Wednesday, calling on relevant international institutions to start the vaccine delivery instead of prolonging it with new requirements.

The ministry said this was their answer to recent allegations that Bosnia failed to meet the requirements and therefore would not get the purchased vaccines by April.

“The full amount for 1,232,000 doses was paid within the deadline. Bosnia and Herzegovina also made available refrigerators to accept more than a million and 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines, in line with the ultra-cold chain procedure. All refrigerators have been calibrated and mapped by accredited laboratories and we are more than ready for the vaccines,” the ministry said.

All relevant institutions at all levels of authority are prepared to work together from the moment the vaccines arrive and further in their distribution, and this readiness has been confirmed by the COVAX, UNICEF, and the World Health Organisation, according to the ministry.

“All conditions have been met and BiH is now facing some new requirements set by the vaccine producers, which makes us believe this is all about buying of time as a consequence of the insufficient production at the global level,” said the ministry, urging the COVAX, WHO, UNICEF and vaccine producers to visit BiH and assess the country's readiness to accept the vaccines instead of setting new conditions.