The joint vaccination strategy, proclaimed by Brussels as one of the European successes against covid-19, has lost a link. Hungary decided in May to demarcate itself from the new round of joint purchase of vaccines for 2022 and 2023 and become the first EU country to try to guarantee its supply by its own means. Budapest's commitment to alternative vaccines, such as the Russian or the Chinese, also collides with the new European vaccination certificate, which allows people who have been administered some to move with greater freedom throughout the EU. of vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
No other partner has, so far, supported the Hungarian split. But the success of Budapest in the immunization campaign (56.8% of the population has received at least one dose), where it leads with Malta in percentage of vaccinated population, could be tempting for other community partners, especially , should there be any further setbacks in the European dose distribution schedule.
Hungary's permanent representation to the EU ensures that the second round of the European strategy, which has already reserved 1.8 billion doses with BioNTech-Pfizer, would have forced the purchase of more vaccines than the Orbán government considers necessary.
And he adds that "the continuous supply of vaccines from the EU and outside the EU allows the country to maintain sufficient reserves not only for the complete vaccination of the population, but also to inject booster doses if necessary."
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The Hungarian strategy, however, is increasingly deviating from that of the EU, where of the 423 million doses distributed to date, more than half (286 million) are Comirnaty, the brand of the vaccine produced by the German company. BioNTech and the American Pfizer. This brand has become the quintessential European vaccine and the axis of the vaccination strategy that, perhaps, will have to be implemented in 2022 and 2023.
Hungary, of almost 10 million people, has followed an alternative path, based largely on the purchase of Russian and Chinese vaccines. Of the 15.7 million doses distributed so far in Orbán's country, 5.1 million are from Beijing CNBG (from the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm) and two million from Russia's Sputnik. "Hungary is going to have a large part of the population vaccinated with these vaccines and with the uncertainty of whether they are useful for traveling," warns the Socialist MEP Nicolás González Casares, a member of the parliamentary commission that monitors vaccination strategies.
The regulation on the European covid certificate, which entered into force on July 1, provides for free movement without restrictions (such as tests or quarantines) for people who have been administered a vaccine authorized by the EMA (who are those of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen, until now).
In Hungary, at the moment, these four vaccines account for 50% of those distributed.
A percentage that could drop in the coming months if the Orbán government concentrates its acquisitions on alternative routes to the European one.
A shipment of Sinopharm vaccines arrives at Budapest airport on February 16.
Handout.
/ Reuters
The community regulation contemplates the possibility that the certificate also extends to vaccines authorized under an emergency regime by the World Health Organization, as is the case of the Chinese Sinopharm.
But this recognition is not automatic but is subject to country-by-country authorization in each of the 27 members of the Union.
A requirement that could complicate the possibility of displacement of a large part of the Hungarian population while the Russian and Chinese vaccines do not receive the approval of the EMA.
In the case of Sputnik, it has not yet been validated by either the WHO or the EMA.
Without contract
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had so far managed to maintain unity among community partners despite initial criticism of the slow distribution of contracted vaccines and repeated mishaps in the delivery schedule.
The strategy experienced critical moments during the first quarter of this year, when several countries - such as Austria, Denmark or Hungary itself - threatened with unilateral movements to improve supply.
The situation got on track as of April and vaccination campaigns are advancing at a rapid pace in almost all the countries of the Union and 61% of the population over 18 years of age has already received at least one puncture.
But Orbán's growing estrangement from the rest of the EU governments threatens to reopen the debate on the common European strategy.
Orbán's rudeness to Brussels in health matters came on the occasion of the signing of the new dose reservation contract with BioNTech-Pfizer.
The agreement, signed by the Commission and the two pharmaceutical companies on May 20, was made public this week in a brutally censored version.
But the document shows, at least, that the countries participating in the acquisition of vaccines are no longer the 27 EU states but only 26. All except Hungary.
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"Hungary participated fully and from the beginning in the first round of joint purchase agreements," say sources from the Hungarian diplomatic delegation in Brussels.
The same source recalls, however, that "given the delays in the delivery of vaccines at the beginning of 2021, Hungary had to resort to authorized vaccines in accordance with the emergency regime provided for in the pharmaceutical directive."
Hungarian diplomacy adds that “according to the new EU contract with Pfizer, Hungary would have had to commit to buy 19 million doses, which is too high a quantity even for the years 2022-2023, especially when from 2022 a national vaccine production plant will already be fully operational in Hungary ”.
European Commission sources indicate that "only Hungary has requested to leave and, therefore, is not covered by the contract."
The community body adds that "all other Member States will have the opportunity to purchase vaccines under the new contract."
Budapest's break with the European management of the pandemic also coincides with a growing distancing between Orbán and the rest of the EU partners, faced in recent weeks by the Hungarian government's offensive against the LGTBI community or by the continuous sabotage from Budapest to the common European foreign policy.