The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the request of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of B&H, adopted today decisions that unlocked the process of procuring vaccines for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

An amendment to the Commitment Agreement-committed purchase arrangement between the B&H Council of Ministers and the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) was approved as a necessary condition for the continuation of the vaccine procurement process in the COVAX mechanism, which should be confirmed by the B&H Presidency.

The Agreement between the Council of Ministers of B&H and AstraZeneca on compensation of AstraZeneca was approved, which enables the AstraZeneca vaccine to arrive in B&H this month through COVAX, as well as the Compensation Agreement from COVAX which refers to additional conditions of Pfizer/BioNtech.

The Council of Ministers also adopted a Decision on amendments to the decision on exemption from calculation and payment of indirect taxes and refund of already paid indirect taxes on equipment and funds donated by domestic and international entities for the prevention, control and elimination of the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19). allows direct procurement, in addition to international agreements, to be exempt from indirect taxes.

This fulfills all the additional conditions required to start deliveries of vaccines purchased under the COVAX mechanism. Bosnia and Herzegovina signed a contract with COVAX on September 18, 2020, and then 1,232,000 doses of vaccine were ordered, for which $ 12,997,600 was paid from the entity budget.

The decisions of the Council of Ministers were made after the competent health authorities gave a positive opinion on the acts sent to them by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the ministry said.