The Hungarian government has reached an agreement with Russia to buy a “large quantity” of the Russian vaccine Sputnik Covid-19, the country’s foreign minister announced on Friday.
“I am pleased to announce that today we have signed an agreement whereby Hungary can purchase a large quantity of Russian vaccine in three tranches,” said Peter Szijjarto, who added additional details about the deal, specifically details of when they produced the first vaccines. will be delivered – will be released later.
“Hungary’s national interest is to speed up vaccinations. Due to the slow arrival of vaccines so far, this is only possible if we buy effective and safe vaccines from another source, ”he added.
The Hungarian government has complained about what it considers the slow arrival of vaccines approved and purchased by the European Union as a whole.
The bloc had agreed to distribute vaccines at an equal and proportionate rate, but speaking on local radio on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blamed Brussels for the slow distribution and urged the European Medicines Agency to approve other vaccines. , such as as a candidate for Oxford / AstraZeneca.
“Hungarians need the vaccine, not an explanation,” he said.
Some context: Orban faces a potentially tight parliamentary election in 2022 and his government is spreading rhetoric as it tries to be seen as a good manager of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The country on Friday reported 1,311 new cases of Covid-19 and an additional 98 deaths from the virus. A total of 356,973 have contracted the virus in the country and 11,713 have died with Covid-19.