The European Commission and Austria have signed an agreement to ensure 651,000 vaccine doses reach the countries of the Western Balkans. They will be delivered between May and August to “health workers and vulnerable groups in the region”, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, announced: “The European Union stands by our partners in the region, who have been looking to us for support”. The president also thanked Austria for “its firm commitment and solidarity with the Western Balkans”. Even Enlargement and Neighbourhood Commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, stressed the importance of the agreement “despite the current global shortage”. We have supported the region “from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic”, “with emergency medical equipment” and by “strengthening resilience”, Várhelyi recalled, because “we care about the Western Balkans whose future is in the European Union”.