The first 550,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine against Covid-19 arrived Tuesday, February 16 in Hungary, the only country in the European Union to have approved it, announced the government of Viktor Orban, which also stands out for the use of Sputnik V. The Hungarian state plane, which had left for Beijing the day before, landed at Budapest airport at midday, with lots on board which will allow the vaccination of 275,000 people.
Read also: Covid-19: vaccination among general practitioners starts on February 25
"
Thanks to cooperation with the Chinese government, we are the first EU country to receive the Sinopharm vaccine
," said Tamas Menczer, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the spot.
“
We are trying to save lives and maintain the economy, this is an important day for Hungary,
” he added.
The Hungarian pharmaceutical authorities (OGYEI) had given the green light to this vaccine at the end of January, announcing at the same time an order for 5 million doses.
The National Center for Public Health (NNK) must now carry out tests, and once its approval is given, the vaccine can be administered to the population.
Hungary had already been an exception by approving the Russian vaccine last month, used since Friday in the country of 9.8 million inhabitants.
On this occasion, the sovereignist Prime Minister had once again criticized the process of validation and purchase of vaccines by the EU, considered too slow.
“
Every day that we would spend waiting for Brussels, we would lose a hundred Hungarian lives
,” Viktor Orban said at the time.
"
Why should we think that European experts are smarter than us, I trust more
" Hungarian experts.
Read also: Does the European Medicines Agency assess vaccines independently?
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) faces increased pressure to clear new anti-Covid vaccines as quickly as possible, as 27 member states grapple with delivery delays and supply difficulties for all three products authorized so far (Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca / Oxford).
Meanwhile, Serbia is leading the way in mainland Europe, aided by Chinese and Russian vaccines, and Hungary is hoping to catch up soon despite locals' skepticism towards them.
Viktor Orban has pledged that by the end of May Hungary would have vaccinated 3.5 million more people than in any other EU country of similar size.
"
We cannot stop the virus without the vaccine
", he insisted Monday, February 15 in a speech in Parliament.
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