President Pendarovski fired another shot at Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce, after the two traded barbs today about who is more responsible for the pitiful state of vaccination in Macedonia.
Pendarovski opened the exchange when, after the meeting of the National Security Council, he stated that the footage of about 10,000 Macedonian citizens going to Serbia to look for vaccines is an “embarrassment”. Filipce took this as an attack on his work, and responded that Pendarovski is also partially responsible for working with international companies and organizations who have the vaccines, but that he was of no practical assistance.
It is true that Serbia showed solidarity toward 10,000 our citizens. But it is difficult to say that these images of our citizens trying to obtain healthcare services abroad are something to be proud about. President Pendarovski is surprised that Minister Filipce consciously neglects to mention the fact that the initial contacts with the biggest pharmaceutical companies at the end of December last year were done precisely through the office of the President. Since then, President Pendarovski was actively involved through diplomatic channels in the process of procuring vaccines, which is primarily under the mandate of the Healthcare Minister, Pendarovski’s office said in response.
The public scene of two top officials of the Zaev regime feuding over who gets to be blamed for the vaccine fiasco showed how seriously the regime is hit by the loss of credibility on this key issue. Filipce faced calls for a criminal investigation into his Chinese dealings, when he tried to use a shell company registered in American Samoa to buy 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines. The Chinese manufacturer withdrew from the deal after this scandal and this set Macedonia back tremendously in the vaccine race. Only today odds began to brighten a little, as Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fanghe came to Macedonia as part of his regional tour.
VMRO-DPMNE official Antonio Milososki condemned both Filipce and Pendarovski for the failure of the SDSM led regime, and noted that the situation Macedonia is in is due to its policies.
Over the past three months Macedonia lost a significant portion of its healthcare sovereignty. That is an inseparable component of security sovereignty. Due to the incompetence of the Government Macedonia lost a portion of its sovereignty to Serbia – not by Serbia’s fault but due to the Government’s incompetence, Milososki said.
Even some mid tier regime officials were seen standing in line in the vaccination centers in Nish and Belgrade, which only added to the sense of failure. Outlets and commentators normally supportive of the Zaev regime openly criticized Filipce for the situation Macedonia found itself in, as they traded tips for finding vaccines in Serbia.
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