"I'm grateful to EU that this decision does not refer to Serbia and Western Balkans"

"I'm grateful to EU that this decision does not refer to Serbia and Western Balkans"

Asked to comment on the consideration of the ban on the export of vaccines from the EU and the fact that the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was vaccinated with a Chinese vaccine, and the question whether the EU is falling into chaos, Vučić answered that it does not apply to Serbia.

"Thanks to the Europeans, the question of whether they will export vaccines does not refer to Serbia and the Western Balkans, but to other continents," he explained, reminding that Ghana, a huge African country, will receive 600.000 vaccines.

He also pointed out that Serbia has not yet received anything from COVAX program and that he hopes that the vaccine will arrive from that program in March.

''When I talked about rich countries, I was right. Some countries have ordered seven times more than they have inhabitants. They bought at least ten times more than they needed. I did not exaggerate when I said ‘will you vaccinate and revaccinate all pets’. It just makes no sense", he added. Vučić said that they kept silent and no one would comment on his statement. "And then, they will talk about solidarity. This has to do with countries on other continents, which have a lot of money and think that money can buy everything", he said.

He said that Serbia, as a small country, has shown that you don't have to be too rich, but that you can have decent finances, have friends and that those friends respect and help you.

"That's why I'm here tonight and I'm grateful to my Russian friends for the new contingent of vaccines. I expect a large delivery of Chinese vaccine in a few days", he added.

Vučić said that he would never forget the sentence of Predrag Gaga Antonijević, when he said that some could not, and some did not dare to make the film "Dara from Jasenovac" in the past. "One thing I could and dared to do, and that is to say that the lives of citizens are more important to me than the criticism from Brussels or other countries. I assume that this is also the case with the Prime Minister of Hungary and the Czech Republic, for whom the lives of citizens are more important. It is more important to me that we saved one life, and I know that we saved hundreds of thousands of lives", the president said. He pointed out that this is proved by the fact that those who are twice smaller than Serbia have twice as many dead.

The reason for that, he adds, is vaccination on one side, and on the other side, that patients are hospitalized in Serbia. "We hospitalize the largest number of patients. When doctors take care of the patient, then protection and help is greater and more important. People's lives are more important to me, and I don't care what anyone says or writes," President of Serbia concluded.