The Hungarian government has reached an agreement with Russia for the purchase of a “large quantity” of Russian Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine, the country’s foreign minister announced on Friday during a visit to Moscow.
“I am pleased to announce that today we have signed an agreement whereby Hungary can purchase a large quantity of vaccine from Russia in three tranches,” said Peter Szijjarto, adding that further details on the agreement – the timing of the first vaccines – will be delivered – will be released later.
“It is in Hungary’s national interest to speed up vaccinations. Due to the slow arrival of vaccines so far, this is only possible if we buy effective and safe vaccines from another source, ”he added.
The Hungarian government has complained about the slow arrival of vaccines approved and purchased by the European Union as a whole.
The bloc agreed to distribute the vaccines equally and proportionately, but speaking on local radio on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blamed Brussels for the slow distribution and called on the European Medicines Agency to approve other vaccines, as in as a candidate for Oxford / AstraZeneca.
“Hungarians need a vaccine, not an explanation,” he said.
Some contexts: Orban faces potentially close parliamentary elections in 2022, and his government is debating rhetoric as it tries to be seen as managing the country’s coronavirus outbreak well.
The country reported 1,311 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday and 98 additional deaths caused by the virus. A total of 356,973 contracted the virus in the country and 11,713 died with Covid-19.