Hungary may start Russia's Sputnik shots next week, says PM Orban

  • FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Buenos Aires
  • FILE PHOTO: EU leaders summit in Brussels
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Hungary may start Russia's Sputnik shots next week, says PM Orban

FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Buenos Aires

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary may start inoculating people with Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine next week after it granted the shot emergency use approval, making it the first European Union country to do so, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

EU countries so far are relying almost entirely on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine but Hungary's drug regulator approved Sputnik V for use last month.

Under a deal also signed last month, Russia will ship 2 million vaccine doses to Hungary in the coming three months, enough for 1 million people. Hungary received the first 40,000 doses last week.

Orban said so far 264,530 Hungarians - healthcare workers and the most vulnerable elderly - have received at least one shot from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. He said by mid-March all those older than 60 who have registered for a vaccine would be inoculated.

"By early April we could be close to 2 million vaccinated and if we can also use the Chinese vaccine, then the number of those vaccinated and those who have had COVID (and gained immunity) would exceed ... 2 million, that's good," he said.

On Thursday, Orban flagged that coronavirus restrictions could be eased in April after Easter.

Hungary's drug regulator has also granted emergency use approval to Chinese Sinopharm's vaccine, rather than waiting for the bloc's European Medicines Agency (EMA) to give the go-ahead.

It has also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Barbara Lewis)

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