BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Vaccines from the West, Russia or China? Or nothing? This dilemma is facing nations in Southeast Europe, where coronavirus vaccination campaigns have begun slowly – overshadowed by heated political debates and conspiracy theories.
In countries such as the Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria, vaccine skeptics have included former presidents and even some doctors. Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic was among those who said he did not want to be forced to be inoculated.
False beliefs that coronavirus is a hoax or that vaccines would inject microchips into people have spread to countries that were previously under harsh communist rule. Those who were once subjected to mass inoculations are deeply divided if they receive the vaccines.
“There is a direct link between support for conspiracy theories and skepticism about vaccination,” a recent Balkan study warned. “A majority in the whole region does not intend to take the vaccine, a considerably lower ratio than in other parts of Europe, where a majority is in favor of administering the vaccine.”
Only about 200,000 people applied for the vaccine in Serbia, a country of 7 million, in the days after authorities opened the procedure. Instead, 1 million Serbs signed up for 100 euros ($ 120) on the first day the government offered aid for the pandemic.
Hoping to encourage vaccinations, Serbian officials set fire to television. However, they themselves have been divided over how to get the Western-made Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or Russia’s Sputnik V, several divisions in a country that is formally seeking accession to the European Union, but where many favor more tight with Moscow.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Saturday welcomed a shipment of 1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, saying he would receive a blow to show he was safe.
“Serbs prefer Russian vaccine,” reads a recent headline in Informer, a pro-government tabloid, as officials say 38 percent of those who applied to fire are in favor of the Russian vaccine, while 31% want Pfizer-BioNTech version – a tough division between pro-Russians and pro-Westerners in Serbia.
In neighboring Bosnia, a war-torn country that remains ethnically divided between Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats, politics is also a factor, as the Serb-led half seems to opt for the Russian vaccine, while the Bosnian-Croatian side will transform to the western ones.
Sasa Milovanovic, a 57-year-old real estate agent from Belgrade, sees all vaccines as part of the “global manipulation” of the pandemic.
“People are imprisoned, have no more lives and live in a state of hysteria and fear,” he said.
Djokovic said he was against being forced to take a coronavirus vaccine to travel and compete, but kept his mind open. The top tennis player and his wife gave positive results in June, after a series of exhibition matches with zero social distances that he organized in the Balkans. They and their foundation donated 1 million euros ($ 1.1 million) to buy fans and other medical equipment for hospitals in Serbia.
Health Ministry official Mirsad Djerlek described the response to the vaccine as “satisfactory”, but warned the state broadcaster RTS that “people in rural areas usually believe in conspiracy theories and that’s why we should talk to them.” and explain that the vaccine is the only way out of this situation. ”
A study by the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group, published before the start of the regional vaccination campaign in December, concluded that viral conspiracy theories are considered by almost 80% of Western Balkan citizens striving to join the EU. About half of them will refuse vaccination, he said.
Unfounded theories claim that the virus is not real or that it is a biological weapon created by the US or its opponents. Another popular lie is that Microsoft founder Bill Gates is using COVID-19 vaccines to implant microchips in the world’s 7 billion people.
A low level of information about viruses and vaccines, distrust of governments and repeated claims by the authorities that their countries are besieged by foreigners contribute to explaining the high prevalence of these beliefs, according to the Balkan think tank.
Similar trends have been observed even in some eastern European Union countries.
In Bulgaria, widespread conspiracy theories have hampered past efforts to deal with an outbreak of measles. Surveys there have suggested that distrust of vaccines remains high, even as coronavirus cases continue to rise. A recent survey by Gallup International found that 30% of respondents want to be vaccinated, 46% will refuse and 24% are undecided.
Bulgarian doctors tried to change attitudes. Dr. Stefan Konstantinov, former Minister of Health, joked that people in the Greek neighborhood should be told to close resorts for unvaccinated tourists, because “this would ensure that about 70% of the population would hurry. to take a jab ”.
In the Czech Republic, where polls show that about 40% reject vaccination, protesters at a large rally against government restrictions in Prague called for vaccinations not to be mandatory. Former President Vaclav Klaus, a staunch critic of the government’s pandemic response, told the crowd that vaccines were not a solution.
“They say everything will be solved by a miraculous vaccine,” said Klaus, 79, who insists people should be exposed to the virus to gain immunity, which experts reject. “We have to say clearly that there is no such thing. … I will not be vaccinated. ”
Hungarian populist authorities have taken a hard line against misinformation of the virus, but vaccine rejection is still projected at around 30%. Parliament adopted emergency powers in March, allowing authorities to prosecute anyone they believe “successfully inhibits” the defense against the virus, including “horror” or spreading false news. At least two people who criticized the government’s response to the pandemic on social media have been arrested, but none have been formally charged.
Romanian Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu said he relied on family doctors to “inform, schedule and monitor people after the vaccine” and that his ministry would offer bonuses to health workers based on the number of people they board. . Asked if such incentives would fuel anti-vaccination propaganda, Voiculescu said: “I am more interested in the opinion of doctors on this issue than I am in anti-vaccination.”
Dr. Ivica Jeremic, who has worked with HIV patients in Serbia since March and tested positive in November, hopes vaccination programs will gain momentum once people overcome their fear of the unknown.
“People will realize that the vaccine is the only way to return to normal life,” he said.
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Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov from Sofia, Bulgaria; Karel Janicek in Prague, Czech Republic; Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary; and Vadim Ghirda from Bucharest, Romania, contributed.
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