Family affairs minister: Government preparing for in-person education

Children over 12 studying in public education facilities will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Katalin Novak told a press conference after a meeting of the operative body responsible for relaunching community life.

Parents will have to declare whether they want their children vaccinated by Wednesday, she said. School doctors and nurses will also be involved in the campaign, she added.

So far, 5.7 million Hungarians have received the first and 5.5 million both coronavirus jabs, Novak noted. Some 187,000 have already registered for the booster shot, she added.

The government is launching a campaign to provide accurate information on the vaccine, Novak said, and called on politicians of all parties to encourage Hungarians to accept the vaccine.

The government is as yet “not considering further restrictions,” Novak said. Schools will receive the government’s guidelines on pandemic protection, but will have the freedom to employ stricter methods and to quarantine individual classes if necessary, she added.