The first shipment of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in Bosnia’s semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity in mid-February, the Director of the RS Public Health Institute, Branislav Zeljkovic, said on Tuesday.

Zeljkovic said the RS will procure 400,000 doses of the vaccine for 200,000 citizens, adding that how much Bosnia and Herzegovina will procure through the COVAX system remains unknown.

The RS Public Health Institute expects information from Bosnia's Ministry of Civil Affairs on the procurement and distribution of vaccines this week, he said.

“Once it starts, when the first people are vaccinated, the epidemiological measures will still be in force, the person who is getting vaccinated will not be able to take off their mask until a certain percentage of us is vaccinated in order to make the transmission of the virus more difficult,” Zeljkovic said.