Also, the country's authorities have allowed the use of a vaccine created by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, although the European Medicines Agency itself has not yet done so.
The Hungarian National Institute of Pharmacology and Nutrition was the first in the European Union to authorize the use of the Russian Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine, Bloomberg reported. The registration procedure was carried out according to an accelerated scheme and the active support of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. At the same time, Budapest approved the drug AZD1222, developed by the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford (it showed not very high efficacy).
Foreign Minister Peter Siyjarto is due to arrive in Moscow tomorrow to discuss the purchase of the vaccine. Despite the emergency permission, which is valid for the first six months, the Hungarian health authorities will continue to test Sputnik-V: Moscow handed over the first batches for research at the end of November.
It is not yet clear when vaccination will begin. According to media reports, Hungarians remain skeptical about Covid-19 vaccines, with 27% responding positively to the question of whether they want to be vaccinated, compared with 29% who were against.
In addition to Russia, the drug developed on the basis of two different human adenoviral vectors (that is, a virus that has genes responsible for the development of infection "cut out") by the Gamaleya National Center was registered in Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay. They are also negotiating with the European Medicines Agency: German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered support for her Paul Ehrlich Institute. And in the coming days, the World Health Organization will launch a procedure prior to filing an application for registration of "Sputnik-V".
After analyzing the data from the final checkpoint of clinical trials, its effectiveness was estimated at 91.4% (against severe cases of coronavirus disease - 100%). Tomorrow should publish the data of the third stage of trials, promised in the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is engaged in the distribution of the drug.
Another important news on Sputnik-V is that today the Ministry of Health has simplified the requirements and now it will be possible to transport and store the vaccine not at minus 20 degrees, but at temperatures from plus two to eight degrees. This will expand its supplies to the regions.
Upd … As expected, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Hungary, Peter Siyjarto, arrived in Moscow on January 22 for talks with the head of the Russian Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko. Following the meeting, the parties signed a contract for the supply of Sputnik-V from Russia to Hungary. “A national priority is to accelerate vaccination. Due to the slow delivery of the vaccine, we had to look for a new source from where we can get a fast supply of reliable vaccine,”Siyarto said.
The process will be in three stages. We are talking about the purchase of two million doses of vaccine: in the first month - 300 thousand, in the second - half a million, in the third - 200 thousand. Accordingly, a million people want to vaccinate ("Sputnik-V" involves the introduction of two components with an interval of 21 days). In Hungary, according to data for 2020, 9.7 million people live.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced plans to build his own plant in the city of Debrecen to produce drugs for the prevention of Covid-19. It is not clear what kind of vaccines they want to produce there.