<p>SKOPJE, North Macedonia — North Macedonia received a shipment Friday of 200,000 doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine following major delays in the country’s start-and-stop coronavirus immunization program. </p>
<p>The small Balkan country has struggled with supply shortages, and less than 3% of the population has received a first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines.</p>
<p>The current daily COVID-19 mortality rate in North Macedonia is approximately three times higher than the European Union average.</p>
<p>The Sinopharm vaccines arrived Friday from neighboring Serbia in refrigerated trucks.</p>
<p>Health Minister Venko Filipce said an expanded nationwide immunization program would start Tuesday with a goal of delivering about 15,000 shots daily.</p>
<p>Another 600,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and 26,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are expected in May, he said.</p>
<p>Despite North Macedonia having still-high infection rates, the government has relaxed restrictions for Orthodox Easter this Sunday and next month’s holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which is observed by the country’s predominantly Muslim ethnic Albanian minority. </p>
<p>As of Thursday, North Macedonia had recorded a total of 152,000 confirmed cases and more than 4,800 deaths since the start of the pandemic.</p>
