PMO Head: Hungary to Have 5 Million Vaccinated by End of May
Five million Hungarians are expected to have received at least their first jab on the week after the Pentecost holiday, the last week of May, the prime minister’s chief of staff said on Thursday.
“With this in sight, the cabinet will at its meeting next week discuss easing further pandemic-related restrictions,” Gergely Gulyás told his regular weekly press briefing held online.
Gulyás said that under the government’s plan, Hungarian citizens living abroad will also be entitled to receive a Hungarian immunity certificate.
Hungarian citizens inoculated against Covid-19 in any member state of the European Union, NATO or the OECD, and in Russia or China can apply to obtain a Hungarian immunity certificate after submitting a certificate of their inoculation to Hungarian authorities, he said.
Weekly Pfizer Vaccine Shipments Planned to Be Partly Used for Open Registration
Starting next week, doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will begin arriving regularly to Hungary every week, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás announced. These vaccines may be needed to reach the ambitious milestone of 5 million vaccinations
, as Hungary’s inoculation rate has significantly slowed down since the last opportunity for Pfizer vaccinations.
In the government’s most recent press conference, Gergely Gulyás said roughly 120 to 180 thousand doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can be expected every week after next week. Among these would be 130-140 thousand Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses and 20-30 thousand Moderna vaccines doses intended for first inoculations.
Sputnik V Registration Opens for Some
Registrations for Sputnik V vaccinations have reopened thanks to more doses being available, István György, state secretary responsible for vaccination, announced. Registered individuals should have already received an SMS notification about an available timeslot for vaccination.
In the operative board’s press conference, György announced that the 200,000 most recent Russian vaccine doses would be designated to people via text message. He did not specify who they will be notifying, but that they will have already registered those individuals’ TAJ numbers for specific appointments in the National eHealth Infrastructure (EESZT) database.
Sputnik V registration comes as an addition to the foundational availability of Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccination appointments. The Russian vaccine’s track record shows that most Hungarians are willing to be vaccinated with it.