Packed bars, few masks and almost no restrictions — in Serbia it seems the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but it is a cruel illusion, as the Balkan nation currently tops the global charts for infection rates.
Despite having a variety of jabs available, the nation’s vaccination drive stalled after just over 40 percent of its 7 million population were inoculated.
Serbia has been averaging more than 6,500 cases a day over the past two weeks, an infection rate of almost 93.5 per 100,000 people — by far the highest in the world.
Photo: AFP
Although wearing a mask indoors and social distancing are mandatory, there is little or no enforcement. Following the rules is down to individual choice.
“I’m not bothered about the virus, I had it last year, it wasn’t a big deal,” 20-year-old economy student Marko said while sitting in a crowded Belgrade bar.
Doctors have urged the Serbian government to impose strict measures, such as limiting the opening hours of non-essential businesses and introducing a vaccine pass that would limit the social activities of those who are yet to receive a vaccination.
After juggling with the idea for weeks, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic finally dismissed it, claiming there was no way to impose discipline.
“Passes are impossible to control, just as it is impossible to control wearing masks indoors,” Brnabic said at a televised news conference. “We have a cure for this ... and that is vaccination.”
Serbia’s leading epidemiologist Predrag Kon was incredulous at the refusal to bring in tighter measures.
“I can’t comprehend what I just listened to,” he said after a crisis meeting of a task force, accusing decisionmakers of “obstruction.”
Rade Panic, who leads a doctor’s union, links the government’s reluctance to enforce tough measures to elections due next year and the widespread influence of vaccine skeptics.
“The anti-vaxxers created a problem, but the government does not want to tackle it because of the elections,” Panic said. “The message is that we are all on our own... We are in pure survival mode.”
On top of issues of enforcement, Serbia has also struggled to get young people inoculated. Brnabic said only 22 percent of those aged between 18 and 30 have been jabbed so far.
Health passes have helped encourage young people to roll up their sleeves in nations such as France, but Brnabic believes Serbian youngsters are different.
“Once they hear of someone forging the pass to get into a bar or a nightclub, it would become cool and all young people would try to prove that they could do it,” she said.
Panic, who works as an anesthesiologist in a COVID-19 hospital, said doctors were “overwhelmed” and labeled Brnabic “a dilettante.”
“It’s a battlefield out there, both for the dying patients and the exhausted doctors,” he said.
Serbia initially got off to a strong start with vaccines — securing enough jabs from both East and West to invite foreigners to come to receive the vaccine.
It announced it would become the first European nation to produce the Chinese Sinopharm jab and has also been given approval to start manufacturing the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
Serbia was also one of the first nations to offer a booster shot to the public, but the nation has long been a hotbed of misinformation about vaccination, fueled by a lack of trust in the government and other institutions as a result of frequent corruption scandals and a general lack of transparency.
A handful of rogue doctors fanned the suspicions, some of whom have since garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and have been given space in the national media.
“The state must not only motivate citizens, but also do everything to stop lies and manipulation,” Srdjan Lukic, a Serbian pulmonologist who now works in Slovenia, wrote on Twitter. “Serbia has failed miserably there.”
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