Chief Medical Officer Cecília Müller said the first shipment of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, enough to inoculate 20,000 people, has arrived in Hungary.
Speaking before the arrival of the shipment, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the batch of 40,000 doses would be taken to the National Public Health Centre, where “the necessary tests will be carried out”. He added that the vaccine will be distributed in line with the government’s vaccination plan.
Minister Szijjártó noted that under a recent agreement Hungary is set to receive two million doses of the vaccine from Russia, enough to inoculate one million people in the next three months. The sooner vulnerable groups of people are vaccinated, the sooner restrictions can be eased, he said.
Meanwhile, the chief medical officer said that Hungary was also expecting enough vaccines from China for 2.5 million people. She said that 6.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were expected, adding that Hungary has so far received 500,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Müller stressed that all vaccines provided sufficient protection against the virus, preventing serious symptoms and complications.
Photo credit: koronavirus.gov.hu