A batch of 24,000 Astra Zeneca vaccines are going to be delivered to Macedonia on Sunday morning, and Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce announced a welcoming ceremony at the Skopje airport.

The vaccines are being delivered through the Covax mechanism put in place by the World Health Organization. It’s the third batch of vaccines sent to Macedonia, after the Serbian donation of 8,000 Pfizer vaccines and a Russian shipment of 3,000 Sputnik V vaccines. Filipce and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev were not able to provide other vaccines, including botching a deal with the Chinese Sinopharm company which was abandoned after Filipce tried using a shell company in an apparent attempt to divert the commission from the sale to suspicious businessmen.