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| - Serbia vaccinated migrants and citizens of neighbouring countries with the AstraZeneca jab on Friday, expanding an immunisation campaign that has outpaced most of Europe. Thanks to early deals with a range of pharmaceutical companies, including a heavy reliance on the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab, the Balkan state has already administered more than two million doses among its seven million population. The invitations to migrants and foreigners comes as the country has started offering the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, which has been cleared as safe but has lost favour in some countries due to unproven fears of a link to rare blood clotting disorders. Serbian officials did not respond to queries of whether the inclusion of foreigners was due to a lack of interest in the jab among the local population. But in a camp for refugees and migrants outside Belgrade, more than 500 inhabitants signed up to receive the shots, according to public broadcaster RTS. The UN's refugee agency praised the government's "inclusion of displaced persons in the national vaccination programme". Foreigners from neighbouring Balkan states like Bosnia and North Macedonia were also travelling to the Serbian capital after receiving invitations to get the AstraZeneca vaccine. Most of Serbia's fellow non-EU neighbours, some of Europe's poorest countries, have struggled to secure jabs amid delays to the Covax scheme set up to help low-income nations. "I am grateful to Serbia for this gesture on behalf of the citizens of Bosnia, it opened its doors," a man who received the shot in Belgrade told RTS. "A colleague came to try yesterday and got vaccinated and the news spread throughout Sarajevo," added another. Thousands of Macedonian citizens were also granted appointments in Belgrade over the weekend. But according to local media, Macedonian police were calling on the public not to violate the evening curfew with travel to the Serbian capital Friday night, angering some citizens eager to get a vaccine. mat-dd/ssm/mjs
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