Jusuf Nurkic Tried to Buy COVID-19 Vaccines for All of Bosnia

Jusuf Nurkic just wants everyone in Bosnia to have access to the vaccine, and doesn't understand why Americans won't take it.

It's too late for Jusuf Nurkic to save the several family members he's already lost to COVID-19. Even so, the Trail Blazers center is on a mission to provide vaccinations for all of Bosnia-Herzegovina, his proud native country.

The problem? Though Nurkic had a plan in place to purchase vaccines in the United States, laws prohibit him from doing so despite growing numbers of cases and deaths in Bosnia-Herzegovina—and staunch resistance to vaccination from about a quarter of Americans.

"They just have donations, but not enough to vaccinate the people," Nurkic told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne of Bosnia-Herzegovina. "I tried to buy it for the whole country. I figured out the money, the plan and everything. But we still can't do it.

"Even if we find vaccines, I guess United States laws say that until the American people are vaccinated, you can't sell it. So, I don't know what else to do. I really tried."

On June 3, President Biden pledged to donate 80 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to countries in need by the end of the month. The U.S. also joined COVAX, an international alliance in conjunction with the World Health Organization created to ensure equitable access to vaccines worldwide, shortly after President Biden was inaugurated in January. 

But there's still a surplus of vaccine doses in the U.S., and not even new surges of coronavirus cases across the country will cause millions of Americans to change their mind about getting the shot. 

Nurkic doesn't understand why, especially in light of so many smaller countries like Bosnia-Herzegovina continuing to need additional vaccines to stave off ongoing waves of hospitalizations and deaths.

"All these countries are suffering and you have the United States, obviously the No. 1 in the world, has the vaccines and people don't want to get vaccinated," he told ESPN.

"I just feel like humanity has kind of failed, because all the countries around should get at least some of those vaccines, right?"

Among his kin who succumbed to complications from COVID-19 was Nurkic's grandmother, Hana.

She passed away just before tipoff of the Blazers' play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies in the Orlando bubble. 

After the game, Nurkic—who put up 22 points, 21 rebounds and six assists in Portland's do-or-die victory—told reporters that he didn't even want to suit up.

"I didn't want to play," he said. "She made me play, I guess...I think she would've wanted me to play."

[Ramona Shelburne, ESPN]

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