Hungary became the first country in the European Union to officially open to the public the Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceuticals on 24th local Time, but local people still have doubts about the safety of the Chinese vaccine.
In addition to the EU-approved Pfizer, Modena and Astellicom vaccines, Hungary also took the lead in approving the Chinese national vaccine and the Russian Sputnik V vaccine before the European Union’s Medicines Agency (EMA) approved them, according to comprehensive foreign media reports.
According to a poll conducted in Budapest, Hungary at the end of January, only 27% of the respondents were willing to receive the Chinese vaccine, 43% were willing to receive the Russian vaccine, and 84% wanted to receive vaccines developed by Western countries.
Zoltan Komaromi, a Budapest physician, said that he distributed 55 doses of the Chinese vaccine on the 24th, and then notified his patients via email and informed them of the possible risks and side effects of the vaccination. Komaromi mentioned that of the 120 patients he contacted, 22 said they would receive the vaccine, while 75 declined.
Despite the low public confidence in the vaccine, the Hungarian government harshly criticized the EU for its slow procurement of vaccines and purchased vaccines from China and Russia on its own. The first batch of 550,000 doses of the Chinese national vaccine was delivered to Hungary on Wednesday, and a total of 5 million doses of Chinese vaccines purchased are expected to be delivered in the next four months.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also publicly stated that he is looking forward to the Chinese vaccine, and revealed in an interview that he will also choose to receive the Chinese vaccine and will probably administer it “at some point” next week.
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