Serbia military orders compulsory vaccinations

Serbia's military has ordered the compulsory coronavirus vaccination of its personnel saying the measure has been introduced because many soldiers are refusing to be inoculated.

An independent military union said the order by the chief of staff is "discriminatory" because those who refuse to get the shots were told they will face consequences such as failure in rank promotions or inability to take part in advance trainings.

On Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited a vaccination centre for troops where he told reporters: "I believe that with each vaccine we save lives."

The military said the measure was introduced to boost combat readiness of the troops and protect soldiers from getting infected with the virus.

Serbia has had a successful vaccine rollout mostly with China's Sinopharm jabs, but the numbers of those who want to be vaccinated dwindled lately.

Authorities blame the drop on the vocal anti-vaccination groups.

Serbia has so far vaccinated about 30% percent of the population with two shots that also included Pfizer, Sputnik V and AstraZeneca jabs.