A woman is getting a vaccine at a center outside of Sarajevo. One of the lowest rates of inoculated people in Europe can be found in Bosnia.
AP
Some former vaccine skeptics in Eastern Europe have shifted over to the other side as coronaviruses surge, making it more difficult for the unvaccinated to travel abroad.
Fata Keco was afraid of the possible adverse effects of the vaccine when she took it in Sarajevo. She said that the worst pain she had to contend with over the next few days was in her left arm.
The self-employed cleaning woman joined the global community of vaccine-believers after months of being very susceptible to what she now describes as the most ridiculous theories.
She told The Associated Press that she heard that the coronaviruses does not exist, that journalists were paid to spread panic, that planes were spraying us with viruses at night, and that vaccines were being used by the powers that be.
Keco said that he felt relief after putting himself in danger for a long time. I don't mind that it will make my life easier if I go abroad.
She is not the only one who has undergone a transformation after European countries started requiring proof of vaccine for foreign visitors.
"I want to travel and study abroad, and I have to be vaccine free," said ESMA, after getting her first dose Tuesday in Sarajevo.
Sarajevo's health authorities stepped up their efforts to give COVID-19 vaccines to the public this week, despite public distrust and misinformation. They decided to dispatch nurses to local council offices and shopping centers to give out vaccines in hopes of persuading more people to get their shots.
Haris Vranic, Sarajevo's top health official, said that vaccine skeptics have been changing their minds recently, not just because they want to travel abroad freely, but also because the numbers do not lie.
Between 92 and 94% of our people who died in the third and fourth wave of COVID-19 were not vaccine free.
Bosnia, which is still struggling to recover from a devastating ethnic war in 1992-95, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe.
Bosnia has a high level of distrust in vaccines, which have been widely available since late last spring, and similar problems have befallen many of its Balkan neighbors.
The vaccination rate in Romania, a EU nation of 19 million, was only 28% until mid-October, when a spike in new COVID-19 infections and deaths forced some hospitals to put body bags in their hallways.
Fear combined with stricter anti-viruses measures introduced by authorities, including a nighttime curfew and requiring proof of vaccination, has sent the vaccination rate in Romania spiking to over 40% by Dec. 10, according to Our World in Data.
"I was scared, there are so many negative rumors about vaccines," said Ofelia Gligor, who got her first COVID-19 jab on a frigid December day this week in the main vaccination center in Sighisoara, a small, historic Romanian town 300 kilometers (185 miles) away.
Without proof of vaccinations, the 18-year-old nurse wouldn't be allowed to attend her training program at the local hospital.
She said that vaccines will become mandatory for all and that people should get them now.
In Croatia, a similar situation played out. Croatian authorities have introduced a vaccine mandate for all public sector workers and citizens.
Croatia's overall vaccination rate has risen over 1.2% per week to encompass over 45% of its population, despite sporadic protests against the COVID-19 restrictions.
The introduction of mandatory COVID-19 vaccine passes is still on hold in Bosnia, where the jurisdiction over the management of the disease is divided between 14 different levels of government. The enforcement of indoor mask-wearing and social distancing mandates is disorganized.
For some people like Keco, it took more than just mortality statistics to come to terms with the reality of the Pandemic. It took a fight between her and her daughter.
"She said that the vaccines work well." Keco said that her son-in-law's friend, who claimed he would not be caught dead if he got vaccine, got the disease.
Keco said that she needs to get vaccinations if she wants to be safe. People chattered and crazed me. I believed in their silly stories for a while.
