Hungary will now become the first EU state to use the Chinese drug as it looks to increase its vaccine programme. In bold defiance of the EU, Hungary will use a vaccine which has not been approved by the European Medicines Agency. Hungary, which has often been a critic of the EU now hopes vaccine rates could rise quickly due to the introduction of the drug.
Istvan Gyorgy, head of the government’s vaccination workgroup told reporters: “In the next few days we can make a huge step forward in inoculations thanks to the Chinese vaccine.
“This means that within a week, the number of those who have received a vaccine could grow to over 800,000.”
The move to use the Chinese vaccine is a massive blow to the EU who despite authorising three vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Oxford University/AstraZeneca, has seen the rollout across the bloc falter.
Due to the bloc’s faltering vaccine rollout, Hungary revealed it had reached a deal to buy five million doses of the vaccine in January.
Hungary has also reached a deal for doses of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, which has also not been approved by EU regulatory bodies.
More to follow…
