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HUNGARY AIMS FOR SWIFT ACCESS TO VACCINE

The Hungarian government is working to create the legal background to have the swiftest possible access to the coronavirus vaccine once it is developed, the head of the Prime Minister's Office said.
 

Hungary has signed up for all European Union research programmes and has secured 6.5 million doses of the vaccine at a cost of 13 billion forints (EUR 35.7m), Gergely Gulyás told a regular press briefing. Meanwhile, the operative board responsible for handling the epidemic is examining Chinese and Russian vaccines, with a view to buying them should they prove effective, Gulyás said. He said Hungary currently had 1.3 million flu vaccines, adding that more would be obtained if necessary. Answering a question, he said that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had been inoculated with a domestically produced flu vaccine.
The minister noted that the coronavirus situation was worsening worldwide, and Hungary was no exception, but while the mortalities per one million residents averaged 357 Europe-wide, in Hungary it numbered 129. Put to him that the situation had been far worse in the past 14 days, Gulyás said: “Statistics reflect a momentary state and may not have much meaning … the data must be assessed as a whole.”