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The Hungarian Medicines Agency urgently approved the Russian vaccine “Sputnik V”, the head of the service, Matyas Szentivanyi, told state television on Wednesday night. This decision was pressured by Orban to speed up the approval of the vaccine and to distance himself from the EU, which has not yet approved the vaccine.
Orban has been constantly criticized in the European Union for his warm relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. However, he may only be the first, but not the only, Western leader to secure an alternative supply of vaccines from the East, given the slow supply of Western-produced vaccines and the pace of vaccination, upset and angry country leaders. Management in Budapest is also considering acquiring a vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.
In Hungary, vaccines have so far been administered in just over 1%. population. These were low-dose vaccines from Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc.
The government has warned that restrictions such as overnight curfew and the closure of some businesses are likely to need to be extended in the summer if vaccination rates are not increased.
The pressure on V. Orban will also increase in 2022. parliamentary elections in the country. The difference in results between the parties is expected to be the smallest in many years, as the opposition has rallied to the leader in the prime minister’s fourth term. Orban promised to preserve the standard of living of the Hungarians. This is a difficult task, given that his cabinet forecast 6.4 percent. economic recession in 2020.
On Friday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will visit Moscow, where he can agree to purchase a large quantity of Russian vaccine. Despite the urgency to approve the vaccine, which is valid for six months with the possibility of extending the approval for another six months, the Hungarian health service is still reviewing and testing the Russian vaccine, and mass vaccination alone. it can be carried out with the signing of the service, reports state television.
Hungary is also ready to buy more than one million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine as soon as it is approved by the service on January 15. Orban told state radio.
The desire not to hesitate to implement the public purchase of vaccines from the East is associated with the ideological change of V. Orban. From being a strong supporter of Western values, he has become a leader who has vowed to eradicate liberal democracy, collaborating with authoritarian leaders and often arguing with the European Union for more than a decade of power in their hands. .
Orban sought to use warming political ties for trade deals, including 15 billion euros. $ 12.4 billion in Russian funding for the development of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant and $ 2 billion in the $ 1.65 billion railway section between Budapest and Belgrade is part of the Belt and Road Initiative from China. Both agreements are at least partially classified.
The development of contracts for vaccines, which have not yet been approved by the EU, is not without risks. Vaccine developers in China and Russia, compared to their counterparts in the West, are releasing data from clinical trials rather slowly. This raises questions about transparency, efficiency and security.
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