The Hungarian government has reached an agreement with Russia to purchase a “large quantity” of the Russian vaccine Sputnik Covid-19, the country’s foreign minister announced during a visit to Moscow on Friday.
“I am happy to announce that we signed an agreement today in which Hungary can buy a large amount of vaccine from Russia in three installments,” said Peter Szijjarto, adding additional details about the agreement – specifically about when the first vaccines will be delivered – would be released later.
“It is Hungary’s national interest to speed up vaccinations. Because of 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 what it considers the slow arrival of vaccines approved and purchased by the European Union as a whole.
The bloc agreed to distribute vaccines at an equal pace and on a pro rata basis, but speaking to a local radio on Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blamed Brussels for slow distribution and urged the European Medicines Agency to approve other vaccines, such as as the Oxford / AstraZeneca candidate.
“Hungarians need the vaccine, not an explanation,” he said.
Some context: Orban is facing potentially tight parliamentary elections in 2022 and his government is accelerating the rhetoric by trying to be seen as dealing well with the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
The country reported 1,311 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday and 98 additional deaths from the virus. A total of 356,973 contracted the virus in the country and 11,713 died with Covid-19.