Ljubljana - Slovenia's efforts towards securing vaccination against Covid-19 are conducted as part of the joint public order being led by the European Commission and involving all EU member states, the Health Ministry reiterated on Tuesday. It stressed that the vaccine or more of them, when approved, will be made accessible to all members state simultaneously.

Health Minister Tomaž Gantar explained that the EU as a major buyer is in the position to negotiate the best conditions with vaccine makers, which pertains to the supply timeline, other conditions and of course also prices.

"Accessibility to the vaccine is key for a positive effect on the wider society of the EU. Time is definitely also important, but the safety of the vaccine is equally important," he added.

Slovenia will sign contacts with all vaccine producers with which the European Commission already has or will shortly sign contracts on supply pending a permit from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

"If it all runs in line with expectations, the first vaccine against Covid-19 will be available in the second half of December 2020 or at the start January 2021," the ministry added.

It moreover stressed that the first vaccine to obtain the EMA's green light will be accessible on the EU market shortly after, to all member states simultaneously and in proportion to population size, meaning 0.47% for Slovenia.

All of the logistics related to distribution and vaccination will be laid down in Slovenia by the National Strategy on Vaccination Against Covid-19, which is being drawn up, the ministry explained.

It added the European Commission had sent a vaccination strategy to all member states, which need to take a position on it by 15 November and draw up their own strategy on the basis of their financial, logistic and execution capacities.