Hungary is purchasing two million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, sufficient to inoculate one million people, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Moscow on Friday.
Szijjártó said that the vaccine will be delivered in three stages, with Hungary receiving doses for 300,000 people in the first month, 500,000 in the second month and 200,000 in the third.
The minister called the agreement with Russia a great achievement “in a situation whereby vaccine shipments to Hungary are slow and the epidemic is claiming 100-150 lives a day…”
Earlier the day he said that “it is in Hungary’s national interest to secure further safe and effective vaccines in order to speed up vaccination in the midst of the pandemic.”
Buying vaccine from Russia will save lives and speed up Hungary’s return to normal life, he added. He noted that the emergency use of Sputnik V had been approved by the Hungarian authorities after experts of the national pharmaceutical authority observed the circumstances of production at an on-site visit.
Lavrov said cooperation in the fight against the epidemic represented a new area of bilateral ties. He added that Sputnik V had proven effective in Hungary and the Hungarian experts had approved its use accordingly.
During his Moscow visit, Szijjártó is also scheduled to meet Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy Nikolai Shulginov, Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and Rosatom General Director Alexey Likhachev later in the day.
featured image: FM Szijjártó in talks with Lavrov; via Szijjártó’s Facebook page
