Serbia authorises third shot of COVID-19 vaccine, minister says

BELGRADE - The Serbian health authorities authorised a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines for people with compromised immune systems, health workers and anyone vaccinated at least six months ago, country's labour minister said on Sunday.

The Balkan country is facing a surge in coronavirus infections, with an average of over 900 cases a day in the past week due to the highly contagious Delta variant. It so far vaccinated over 50% of its population of around 7 million.

In a live broadcast by the state RTS TV, Darija Kisic Tepavcevic, a doctor and Serbia's labour minister, said health authorities would start administering the third dose of vaccines to the immunocompromised from Tuesday.

"Citizens who received their shots at least six months ago may also request to receive the third dose," said Kisic Tepavcevic.

She did not specify which vaccine would be used for the third dose.

Serbia is currently using COVID-19 vaccines from four manufacturers; Pfizer/BioNtech , China's Sinopharm, AstraZeneca/Oxford and Russia's Sputnik V.

So far COVID-19 has killed 7,167 people in Serbia, while 732,044 have fallen ill.