Steven N.
The government is not negotiating with the manufacturers of either Sputnik or Sinopharm for new shipments, said Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó at a press conference on Monday. The minister confirmed he was “absolutely certain that there would not be any more vaccines coming from the East.”
Although the government has ordered 5 million more vaccines, they will all be from Western manufacturers. Similarly, 80% of the 10 million vaccines available in Hungary are also Western-made.
Szijjártó, however, told news channel ATV that they were negotiating with the manufacturers of Sinopharm and Sputnik to “produce a vaccine under license for these two vaccines at the future national vaccine plant.” Szijjártó had previously announced that Hungary may adopt Sinopharm’s entire production technology.
The minister said that workers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Affairs will have to be vaccinated, but that he had not issued orders for a booster shot yet.
As to the question of whether the government is planning to mandate vaccination for the population similar to Austria, Péter Szijjártó stated that no further steps beyond what had already been announced were planned at the present time.
[HVG]
