Independent MP Presses Charges after Controversial Methods in Licensing of Eastern Vaccines

In reaction to recent news about the problematic and incomplete licensing procedure of the Eastern vaccines, along with alleged political pressure, an independent MP announced he would be pressing charges. According to Ákos Hadházy, the Hungarian authorities and the government endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians by the controversial methods. 

Missing information on security and efficacy, combined with alleged political pressure with the licensing procedure for the Chinese Sinopharm and Russian Sputnik V vaccines, hit the news before Christmas, as the Hungarian food and drug administration authority OGYÉI finally released some of the documents after lengthy legal wrangling. According to this, some of the tests specified by the manufacturer were not completed and several important parameters affecting efficacy and safety were missing at the time the authorization was granted.

When releasing the documents, OGYÉI attempted to redact the most controversial parts (but eventually failed as they could still be made readable).

In addition, the records also show that Hungarian experts also had concerns about the use of both vaccines.

Independent MP Ákos Hadházy has now announced he will press charges for abuse of office and reckless professional endangerment. According to the lawmaker, “the documents are about the astonishing circumstances in which the Chinese and Russian vaccines were licensed. This simply cannot go unpunished in a European country, if not under this government, then afterwards when we have more data on the consequences (as the government is now hiding even the most basic statistics).”

Back when the documents were published, Hadházy wrote that the licensing of the Russian vaccines “was also a huge roulette [played] with the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians. It is the government’s great deal of luck that the Russian vaccine eventually seems to have had some measurable efficacy, although the exact results still remain a mystery (…) The licensing procedure of the Eastern vaccines is (…) a much bigger scandal than the Völner case. The only one even bigger than that is the way the Hungarian government has tried to cover it up.”

(In fact, even according to independent professional medical journal The Lancet‘s examination, published after the Hungarian licensing, the Sputnik V vaccine is quite effective and provides high level of protection against the severe consequences of the coronavirus).

This is not the first charge brought up in the case, as Transparency International, which obtained the documents in court, also pressed charges earlier against OGYÉI, arguing that the state body withheld several important details from the documents.

featured image via Attila Balázs/MTI