Hungary to vaccinate all registered citizens by end of Q2

Answering a question from Socialist MP Sándor Burány, Orbán said there were no contradictions in the government’s communications and actual measures as these all followed a logical progression.

We always adapt to whatever the situation is,

he said.

We are attacking and defending at the same time, Orbán said using one of his usual football imageries. The lockdown is our defence and the vaccines are the attack, he added.

I believe that thanks to the eastern vaccines, and we expect to receive more than 3 million doses from China in May, so if we receive that, and I believe we will, we pledge to

vaccinate everyone who has registered, and this number is increasing and is around 3.5 million at present, before the end of the second quarter.

Hungary will be the first European country to do so, he added.

Excess mortality

Hungary ranks tenth in Europe with regard to extess mortality in 2020 compared to the previous year, Orbán said. Everyone who needs it will receive hospital treatment, he added.

In terms of COVID-19 deaths per total COVID-19 deaths in the world, Hungary (0.64%) currently fares better than Romania (0.81%), Czechia (1.16%) and Poland (1.77%) in the region, but in terms of deaths per one million people it is among the worst.

Bar microstates, Hungary ranks sixth in the world as for the number of deaths per one million population. In this respect, the situation in Hungary is more dramatic than even in the hardest-hit countries, such as the United States or Italy.

Number of vaccination centres could be increased

Vaccines from the East have been used to inoculate half a million people in Hungary, Orbán said. Otherwise, many of these people could have died already, he added.

There are 5,774 vaccination stations in Hungary at present, including 629 in hospitals, 140 in clinics and more than 5,000 general practitioners.

The bottleneck is the amount of vaccines, not the number of vaccination centres, but the latter could be increased if vaccine supply justifies it.

Any vaccine is better than dying of the disease, Orbán stressed.

Vaccines are ordered, delivered and distributed by Brussels, and Hungary’s vaccination drive is going slower not because it is not organised but because there are not enough vaccines, Orbán said answering another question. The EU’s contracts with vaccine manufacturers are not public because these would reveal how bad the deals are, the prime minister said.

Cover photo: MTI/ Szilárd Koszticsák