Pfizer to send 4.4 million vaccine doses to Hungary

Krisztina Zsigmondi, the company’s vaccine distribution chief, said that the European Commission had reserved 200 million doses, and would have an option for a further 100 million in 2020-2021.

Zsigmondi said that the vaccines would be distributed under agreements with the government and would only be available through the centrally designated vaccination spots rather than from private suppliers or from pharmacies.

Tamas Fabo, Pfizer’s medical director in Hungary, said that clinical trials had indicated that the vaccine was 95 percent effective. He added, however, that it was not yet known how long the vaccine would ensure protection against Covid-19. Those inoculated will be monitored for two years, he said.

Peter Vereckei, managing director of Pfizer Gyogyszerkereskedelmi, said that the vaccine had been developed using mRNA technology, which allowed rapid reactions to possible mutations of the virus, adding that a new vaccine could be produced in as little as six weeks.

Vereckei also said that mRNA technology had been developed by Hungarian biochemist Katalin Kariko, who lives in the US.

Szijjarto: Hungary receives 6,000 doses of Russian vaccine

Hungary has taken delivery of 6,000 ampoules of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook on Monday. The vaccine shipment entered Hungary from Slovakia and will be transported to the National Public Health Centre under police guard, Szijjarto said. “Hungarian experts there will have another opportunity to decide how the vaccine will be used,” he added.

Russia has concluded clinical trials of the vaccine with 40,000 volunteers, which have shown it to be 91,4 percent effective, Szijjarto said.

Hungary is keeping an eye on every promising vaccine candidate and is doing everything it can to import those that prove effective, regardless of whether they are developed in the West or the East, the minister added.