Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Brussels has "messed up" the procurement of coronavirus vaccines, adding that Hungary "would be in big trouble right now" had it not ordered more jabs from the East.
The prime minister told public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió that whereas Israel is “nearly done” vaccinating its population and the United Kingdom has inoculated 30-40 percent of its people, the average vaccination rate in the European Union stands at 6.8 percent. “This is a clear indication that something is not right,” PM Orbán said. “And this is not a political issue or accusation, nor any kind of antipathy towards EU or Brussels bureaucrats, but facts. This is how it is: they’ve messed up.”
PM Orbán said that during these past weeks, the quantities of vaccine shipments ordered by the EU have either fluctuated or were not being delivered at all. When asked about plans by Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Latvia to convene an EU summit on the distribution of vaccines, PM Orbán said the Austrian chancellor was right to want to discuss the matter. He added that though member states had agreed that vaccines would be distributed proportionately, this had not been the case. Had Hungary not ordered 3.5 million vaccines from China and Russia, “we’d be in big trouble right now,” PM Orbán said.
Photo credit: Facebook/Orbán Viktor