Here's the Covid vaccine Hungarians will receive this year

As in the previous two years, Moderna was the only company to apply for the contract, so Hungary will purchase its COVID-19 shots from them.

The National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy (NNGYK) tender was for roughly half the quantity purchased last year.

Accordingly, Hungary will purchase 50,000 doses of the vaccine for people aged over 12, with the option to purchase an additional 5,000 doses.

The country has ordered 800 doses of the vaccine suitable for children aged 6 months to 12 years. (The two types differ only in the amount of vaccine contained in each dose.)

The total price of the vaccines for those aged 12 and over is just over HUF 1 billion, equivalent to HUF 18,200 per vaccine. The price of vaccines for children under 12 is just over HUF 11 million, meaning 13,891 forints per vaccine.

It is not yet known when the vaccines will be available, but Telex reported that, based on last year's figures, they are expected to arrive in the second half of November.

Covid vaccine uptake

According to the latest figures (for the period between 1 August 2024 and 28 March 2025), about 13.6 million people aged 60 years and over received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the EU. The median coverage among people in this age group was 8.7%, with high variation across countries. Among the 21 countries reporting data for this target group, none reported a coverage ≥80%.

In the 60-69 age group Hungary had the lowest vaccination coverage rate (VCR) of just 0.1%.

In the 70-79 age group, Sweden (62.2%) and Finland (60.3%) crossed the 60% mark, while

Hungary finished last with an 0.6% VCR.

For the age group 80 years and above, approximately four million people received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The median coverage among people in this age group was 8.5%, with high variation across countries. Among the 21 countries reporting data for this target group, only one country reported a coverage ≥ 80% (Sweden 83.5%).

Coverage in Hungary was the lowest at just 0.9%.

Flu vaccine uptake

Although influenza shots are already available in Hungary, only abou 557,000 doses were administered in the 2024/2025 season of respiratory infections, the fewest since 2010/2011.

The number of flu jabs administered to those aged 60 and over was at an all-time low of 410,570, which corresponded to 73.7% of all Hungarians vaccinated with the free 3Fluart shot, which marks just a 7.3% decrease from last year. This means that about three quarters of those asking for the free flu shot were aged 60 and over in the last respiratory season.

However, merely 16.2% of the 60+ age group felt the need to get the seasonal flu shot, which is

the lowest figure on record and way below the earliest comparable figure of 29.5% for the 2011/2012 season.

This means that out of 100 Hungarians aged 60 and over, only 16 felt the need to protect themselves against the flu via vaccination.

The rapidly waning willingness to get vaccinated against influenza is are even more dramatic when we look at the share of vaccinated Hungarians as a percentage of the (otherwise shrinking) population.

In the 2024/2025 respiratory season, merely 6.0% of Hungarians felt the need to get the free flu shot, the lowest share on record.

Cover photo: Miyer Juana via Getty Images