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Hungary has announced that it will receive a first sample of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in a week and a half, being the first EU member state to announce its intention to obtain the anti-Covid vaccine manufactured in Russia, the Financial Times reports, according to Mediafax.
The announcement was made by Chancellor Peter Szijjarto, who was in quarantine after becoming infected with coronavirus.
Sputnik V is not among the vaccines approved by the EU, which have signed agreements with several pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer-BioNTech, to buy more than 1 billion doses.
Read also How much will a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine cost in Europe?
Discussions over purchasing the Russian vaccine are the latest sign of Hungary’s rapprochement with Russia, with the neighboring country recently criticized by Western states for not maintaining a closer relationship with NATO and increasing its energy dependence on Russia.
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing development of the vaccine, said Wednesday that interim studies have shown it to be 92% effective.
Minister Szijjarto said that the first doses would arrive in Hungary within a week and a half for laboratory tests and that clinical trials would begin in December. If deemed effective, larger quantities will be ordered in the second half of January, he said.
Hungary imposed a stricter quarantine last week than in the first phase of the pandemic, with a total traffic ban between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., and a new 90-day state of emergency was approved on Tuesday.
Publisher: RK
