National medicines authority accuses Hadhazy of ‘misleading and endangering’ public

Hadhazy said earlier on Wednesday that “the Hungarian authority has issued the licence for the Russian vaccine without conducting even the basic measurements and tests”. Hadhazy added that this was “written in black and white” in the approval document.

OGYEI’s communications department said in response in a statement that staff at the authority had been shocked by the MP’s misleading remarks and added that “such irresponsible fake news endanger the success of the vaccination programme and protection against the epidemic, consequently people’s health and lives”. Any vaccine can only be distributed in Hungary if it is first tested by the authority and proven effective and safe, it added.

The statement also said that at Hadhazy’s request, OGYEI made available all “legally presentable documents” to him in the shortest possible time. However, in his social media post Hadhazy “painted a completely false picture” about the licensing procedure, OGYEI said, adding that this was “obviously a result of his incompetence”.

The tests that were missing according to Hadhazy had been ordered by OGYEI during a preliminary licencing procedure which was carried out by the NNK national public health centre, the statement said.

OGYEI called on Hadhazy to refrain from commenting on matters that go beyond his professional competence as a vet and “not to endanger the anti-pandemic protection of the Hungarian public by spreading fake news”.