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Government launches coronavirus vaccine drive

The Hungarian government is launching a campaign to encourage residents to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

 

The Hungarian government is launching a campaign to encourage residents to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that vaccination is being provided on a voluntary basis, but he urged that as many people as possible register. He said over 500,000 people a day could be inoculated if there was a sufficient supply of the vaccine. “This means that we could complete vaccination in two weeks if we had enough doses.”

All government members, including the prime minister, will get inoculated “in due course”, he said, adding that healthcare staff, the elderly in care homes, and people older than 60 and with chronic illnesses were first in line.

Gulyás said there was a “good chance” Hungary would obtain the vaccine from China, in addition to other sources. He said that supplies via the European Union were slow, with weekly amounts received below 100,000 doses. At this rate it would take around 30 weeks to vaccinate 3 million people. He said exact figures are not yet available, but the number of people who have registered for coronavirus vaccination in Hungary has so far approached 1.5 million.

Photo credit: Mandiner