Leading Serbian epidemiologist Dr Predrag Kon said on Monday that more than half a million people have received the first dose of one of the coronavirus vaccines available in Serbia.

He specified that 534,560 people had received the first shot of the vaccine and that 22,368 people had received the second dose.

Speaking at a debate on inoculation for Roma, Kon said that the biggest difference between earlier epidemics and pandemics was that this is the first time that the mass vaccination of adults is being given a priority over the inoculation of children. He said that the vaccines being used against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are safe and efficient and added that as many people as possible should be vaccinated.

He said that vaccinating the Roma population living in slums is important but added that there has been no wide-spread of the pandemic in those settlements than in other places.