BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbia is planning to begin the production of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus by the end of May, an official said on Friday.

Nenad Popovic, the minister in charge of innovations and technological development, said that the Torlak Institute in Belgrade will produce 4 million doses of the vaccine in the first phase.

Popovic said that 3,000 vials of components 1 and 2 each have been filled at Torlak.

"Some 1,100 vials of the two components will be sent to the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, where they will be analyzed by experts for 21 days ​and decide whether Torlak is ready to start the production," said Popovic.

The Balkan country so far vaccinated nearly 2 million of its 7 million population with two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

The country became a regional hub for vaccination after inviting citizens from neighboring countries to receive free jabs.

Serbia also plans to start producing China’s Sinopharm vaccine.

It has registered 654,870 coronavirus cases since the outbreak in March 2020.