{"id":150706,"date":"2021-05-05T16:06:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=194807"},"modified":"2021-05-05T16:06:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:06:42","slug":"serbia-seeks-to-ramp-up-covid-vaccinations-by-offering-to-pay-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/05\/serbia-seeks-to-ramp-up-covid-vaccinations-by-offering-to-pay-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia Seeks To Ramp Up COVID Vaccinations By Offering To Pay Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img src=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/edda8c68-c7d1-424c-986b-2f68de02e403_cx0_cy5_cw0_w1200_r1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"wsw\">\n<p>Serbia will pay citizens to get a COVID-19 shot as the government seeks to speed up the Balkan country&#8217;s flagging vaccination campaign.<\/p>\n<p>President Aleksandar Vucic announced the plan on May 5, saying economic growth depends on vaccinating the population.<\/p>\n<p>Under the incentive program, the government will pay 3,000 dinars ($30) to anyone who receives at least one vaccine dose by the end of May.<\/p>\n<p>On average, Serbs earn a little over $600 a month.<\/p>\n<p>Vucic said the government cannot discriminate against people based on whether they have been inoculated, but described those who refuse to get the shot as &#8220;irresponsible and selfish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That is why we have been thinking about how to reward people who show responsibility,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Vucic also said state employees who are not vaccinated and get sick with COVID-19 will not receive paid leave.<\/p>\n<p>Serbia ranks among the top countries in the world in vaccinating its population of 7 million, but as elsewhere the pace of administering shots has slowed after an initial rush to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>According to government figures, 1.3 million people have been fully vaccinated with either the Sinopharm, Pfizer ,Sputnik V, or AstraZeneca vaccines. The country has a population of around 7 million.<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"wsw__h6\">With reporting by dpa<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/2021\/05\/05\/serbia-seeks-to-ramp-up-covid-vaccinations-by-offering-to-pay-citizens\/\">Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serbia will pay citizens to get a COVID-19 shot as the government seeks to speed up the Balkan country\u2019s flagging vaccination campaign. President Aleksandar Vucic announced the plan\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3346,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,75,106],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150707,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150706\/revisions\/150707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}