The local authorities in the Una-Sana Canton in cooperation with the state authorities and the Danish Refugee Council have started the vaccination against coronavirus among the migrants at the temporary migrant camp Lipa, Bosnia’s northwest, which is one of the largest shelters in the country.

Previously, the migrants in the temporary camps ‘Borici’ and ‘Miral’ in the same region had undergone the vaccination.

“All users of services at the temporary tent camp in Lipa were asked over the past days if they would like to get vaccinated against COVID-19. A total of 264 of them positively responded and this morning we started the immunisation,” head of the USK Public Health Institute Zarina Mulabdic said on Thursday, adding that the migrants will get AstraZeneca shots.

Migrants said they were previously informed about the process and that they made this decision alone.

“I decided to get vaccinated, because I believe this is a good thing for the health of all of us, especially us in collective shelters. The winter and many other challenges are coming, so I don’t want to fear about potential COVID-19 infection,” said Ammar, an Afghan migrant.