Epidemic in Hungary plateauing

Speaking to public media, Szlavik said that this, however, was not a clear indication of how the epidemic would progress from here, underlining that it was still crucial to keep an eye on the case numbers.

In an interview with public news channel M1, Szlavik said that all Covid-19 vaccines approved by Hungary’s health authorities would help prevent hospitalisation for those who contract coronavirus and bring down the country’s death rate.

The vaccines that have been approved so far are different in terms of how they work and even in how they have to be administered, Szlavik said. However, they have all been shown to be 80-95 percent effective with many of them being close to 100 percent effective in preventing serious illness and death from Covid-19, he added.

Concerning the side effects of the various jabs, Szlavik said: “In a pandemic, the important thing is to prevent people from getting sick and dying and this is what the experts have to consider.”

Asked about reports concerning China’s Sinopharm vaccine, he said that in exceptionally rare cases, these types of shots could lead to autoimmune diseases that cause temporary paralysis in the lower limbs. Because this is a temporary paralysis and the condition is well known to experts, it cannot be said that these vaccines are dangerous, Szlavik said.

He encouraged the public to get vaccinated, saying that if the majority of the population are inoculated, “we might be able to go back to our old lives by the summer.”