The foreign minister has underlined how Hungary is the first country in Europe where enough vaccine is available for everyone who asks for it. “This is a great achievement, and it would not have been possible without Pfizer’s supplies,” Péter Szijjártó said after talks with Pfizer’s Hungarian director.
The minister said Hungary has signed up for 10.8 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, and the 20th shipment of 334,000 doses is scheduled to arrive today. As a result, Hungary will have received a total of 2.8 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, the largest amount of vaccine received from any vaccine manufacturer.
Minister Szijjártó said that thanks to these supplies and “the fact that Hungary does not consider vaccine procurement to be an ideological issue”, having purchased vaccines from both “the Eastern and the Western points of the compass”, the country is the first where the vaccine market of is turning from supply-driven to demand-driven, he said. It is also planned that Pfizer will play a big role in the vaccination of young people, he said.
The minister noted that he had paid a visit to the company’s Hungarian office as a sign of respect and to thank its employees. Since December 26, 2020, they have all been working extremely hard to ensure the supply of large amounts of vaccines to Hungary. Sufficient reserves are now being accumulated in order to be able to inoculate people aged between 16 and 18, and the vaccination of under 16s could follow depending on the advice of medical experts, he said.