North Macedonia President Stevo Pendarovski received his first shot of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in the city of Kumanovo on Tuesday.

Photo from Stevo Pendarovski's Twitter account

He said vaccines are the only safe and effective way to end the pandemic and urged the public to get the shots.

The Balkan country has so far logged over 154,000 confirmed infections and more than 5,200 deaths.