The authorities of Montenegro plan to take full control of the situation with the spread of coronavirus in the country this summer in order to open a full-fledged tourist season. This was stated in an interview with RT by the Minister of Health of the Republic, Elena Borovinich-Boyovich, a specialist in the field of internal medicine, pulmonology and infectious diseases. Previously, she headed the pulmonary hospital at the main Clinical Center in Podgorica, and at the height of the coronavirus epidemic, she constantly worked in the “red zone”. According to the minister, the government, which came to power in December 2020, has done everything possible to reduce the number of people infected and to begin supplying vaccines to the country as soon as possible. At the same time, as Borovinich-Boyovic emphasized, the Russian drug Sputnik V, which accounts for most of the COVID-19 vaccine imports to Montenegro, deserves “great respect.”
Elena Borovinich-Bojovic took root in “Sputnik V” “Sputnik V” deserves great respect “: the Minister of Health of Montenegro on the fight against COVID-19 and the vaccine from Russia
– How is the situation with coronavirus developing in Montenegro? Did you manage to overcome the “second wave”?
Elena Borovinich-Boyovich
The current situation requires enormous responsibility and involvement of the entire health care system of the country, round-the-clock monitoring, and the involvement of other state institutions to jointly solve problems. However, our daily efforts and the measures introduced are yielding certain results: at the moment, we are seeing a decrease in the number of infected people every day.
– Until recently, it was possible to come to Montenegro from Russia without a PCR test, but its presence again became mandatory in March. Why?
– How would you respond to the criticism of the speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin, I quote: “Montenegro is not ready to receive tourists. They are not involved in vaccinations or medicine. Montenegro has a lot to do to invite Russian tourists, they have nothing ready for that ”?
Here are specific figures: from December last year to the present day – despite the emergence of more infectious strains of the virus and the season with the highest risk of the spread of respiratory diseases – we managed to reduce the number of infected people from 12 thousand to 6,768 people as of March 30. There is also data from the American Johns Hopkins University, according to which in Montenegro the ratio of deaths to infected people is only 1.4%, which indicates the quality of treatment. For comparison, in many more developed countries this indicator is higher: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Poland, Japan, USA and so on …
We will do our best for the safety of foreign tourists and, of course, for tourists from Russia, whom we will be glad to see in Montenegro.
Minister of Health of Montenegro Elena Borovinich-Boyovic
– Volodin also came up with the idea to send a commission of specialists to Montenegro to assess the situation on the spot – are you ready to accept it?
– The first consignments of the Sputnik V vaccine have already been delivered to Montenegro and its use has begun. How would you rate the effectiveness and safety of the Russian vaccine?
– Recently, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton, on the air of the TF1 TV channel, said that Europe would not need the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, and some Western media even called it the Kremlin's “hybrid weapon”. But still Podgorica decided to buy it. Did you have to face external pressure or criticism for such a decision?
Elena Borovinich-Boyovich got accustomed to “Sputnik V”
– How do you look at the politicization of the healthcare sector that we see today around the world?
– Inside Montenegro, you have to face criticism – that the vaccine procurement process was delayed, that you lost two months, allegedly waiting for the delivery of the drug under the COVAX program, and neighboring Serbia managed to provide itself with vaccines much earlier. How would you explain this?
However, such work was not carried out in Montenegro. When the new government took over on December 4 last year – then I took over as Minister of Health – the very first negotiations on the purchase of the vaccine took place on December 5. That is, the very next day we began to establish relations with absolutely all vaccine manufacturers: N.F. Gamalei, and Sinofarm, and Pfizer, and Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca. In addition, it turned out that the state guarantee for participation in the COVAX program in the amount of about € 100 thousand was not paid.We paid it as soon as we came to power – and if we had not done this, we would not have been able to use the COVAX mechanism for supplies vaccines, as this was a prerequisite for Montenegro.
A lot of time has been wasted that cannot be compensated. Despite the fact that Montenegro is a small country that needs a small amount of vaccines. I can say openly that I am proud that we were able to solve this problem in record time. And also I must note the kind and correct attitude, friendly responsiveness on the part of Russia, Serbia and China. Thanks to serious negotiations and fraternal relations with these countries, we managed to start vaccination of the population.
Elena Borovinich-Boyovic “Sputnik V” deserves great respect “: the Minister of Health of Montenegro on the fight against COVID-19 and the vaccine from Russia
– How is the process of vaccination of the population going now and what proportion will Sputnik V have in it?
Until now, mass vaccination has been impossible to implement – while we have a total of 44 thousand doses, 24 thousand doses from AstraZeneca arrived on Sunday, but even that is not enough. So far, only priority groups of the population are vaccinated – this is about 100 thousand people, and our goal is to vaccinate 350 thousand citizens so that we can talk about herd immunity in Montenegro. I must say that this number, of course, will include those who acquired immunity after having had coronavirus, and this is a considerable percentage.
According to rough estimates, we have about 100 thousand recovered, and according to the epidemiological rules regarding such statistics, the same number should be added: that is, we can count on the fact that 45% of our citizens already have antibodies to COVID-19. And this is a huge contribution to herd immunity.
– That is, it turns out that 70% of the vaccines used (250 thousand out of 350 thousand) in the country will fall on the Russian manufacturer, if it fulfills its supply obligations?
– You recently paid an official visit to Belgrade, where you agreed on the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine, which will be produced in Serbia. Does it include part of those 250 thousand doses, or will it be a separate batch?
Minister of Health of Montenegro Elena Borovinich-Boyovic “Sputnik V” deserves great respect “: Minister of Health of Montenegro on the fight against COVID-19 and a vaccine from Russia
– Can you predict when the coronavirus will be defeated in Montenegro if vaccines arrive on time?
– Are you planning to allow entry into the country with a Russian certificate of vaccination “Sputnik”?
– What can you say about the WHO COVAX program, which Montenegro joined earlier? After all, they do not have time to fulfill their obligations to provide vaccines …
Why this happened – I cannot say, but, in my opinion, COVAX should have ensured the supply of vaccines earlier – then the number of vaccinated would have been higher. After all, many countries relied primarily on this initiative. In any case, the current situation will serve as a good lesson for the World Health Organization as well.
