Hungary becomes 1st EU member to get Chinese vaccine

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Hungary received the first 550,000 doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to become the first EU member to get the Chinese vaccine.

Agnes Galgoczi, the head of the epidemiology department at the Hungarian Health Services Center, said 275,000 people can be vaccinated with the two-dose jab.

“With this vaccine, five different types are now available in Hungary so that we may get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible,” said Galgoczy.

Hungary is the first EU nation to have a vaccine agreement with Russia and China.

It agreed to purchase 5 million doses from China and 2 million from Russia in the next four months.

The amount will be enough to treat 2.5 million people in a country of nearly 10 million.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized the EU's common vaccine procurement program, claiming the bloc’s slow rollout of shots is costing lives.

“If vaccines aren’t coming from Brussels, we must obtain them from elsewhere," said Orban.

While 823 new cases were registered in Hungary in the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew to 389,622 and the death toll increased to 13,837.