Bosnia and Herzegovina should immediately begin direct negotiations with coronavirus vaccine producers and provide it to the most vulnerable categories of the society because the COVAX instrument will not provide the wanted results, Denis Zvizdic, Deputy Chairman of Bosnia's House of Representatives said Wednesday.

With the new parliamentary initiative, the House of Representatives instructed the Civil Affairs Ministry to immediately start direct negotiations on the procurement of vaccines for the most endangered categories of the BiH population with companies approved by the European Commission for the production and procurement of coronavirus vaccines.

The reason for this initiative are announcements that Bosnia's membership in the COVAX vaccine procurement mechanism would not bring the expected results, and that BiH will be among the last member states to receive the vaccine under this instrument.

The initiative further states that BiH must activate the EU's €70 million package for early access to coronavirus vaccines which was approved for the Western Balkan countries under the IPA II Instrument.

“All of the above demands an immediate and urgent reaction of the Civil Affairs Ministry and the Council of Ministers because if we end up depending on the COVAX, it would be safe to say we would not be able to control the coronavirus pandemic and return to normal life even in 2021,” Denis Zvizdic's initiative states, among other things.