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Hungary to help Slovakia with Sputnik V tests

“Slovakia has asked us and we are pleased to help them with the testing of the vaccine,” the foreign minister said.

The foreign minister has confirmed that Hungary will help Slovakia with the laboratory testing of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.

“Slovakia has asked us and we are pleased to help them with the testing of the vaccine,” Péter Szijjártó said after meeting Igor Matovič, Slovakia's deputy prime minister and finance minister, in Budapest.

Minister Szijjártó noted that Hungary had the knowledge and capacity in its internationally accredited laboratory for the procedure. Hungary has an interest in its neighbors’ successful defense against the pandemic, he said, arguing that it also allowed Hungary’s defense efforts to be successful. He hailed Hungary and Slovakia’s “exemplary” cooperation in fighting the pandemic, and noted that last spring the two countries had helped repatriate each other’s citizens.

Minister Szijjártó said that a total of 197 Hungarian healthcare workers had helped out with mass coronavirus testing in Slovakia. He praised Matovič’s efforts in constantly pushing for bilateral cooperation in the pandemic response on Slovakia’s part.

Matovič thanked Minister Szijjártó and Hungary for the friendly relations between the two countries. He noted that the purpose of his visit was for Slovak experts to examine the Sputnik V vaccine in Hungary’s Official Medicines Control Laboratory, noting that Slovakia had no such facilities.

Photo credit: MTI