An Aeroflot delivery of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to EU member Hungary last week has sparked new criticism at home and abroad of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s go-it-alone policies.
An initial 10 doses were handed over for local testing, with large-scale deliveries and potentially mass production by a Hungarian firm possible next year if it proves safe and effective, according to Budapest. Menczer accused critics of the procurement plans of representing the interests of pharmaceutical multinationals and “the Brussels lobby scene”.The European Medicines Agency , charged with overseeing vaccine approval in the European Union, has yet to assess the Russian drug, which Moscow said this week showed 95 percent effectiveness in latest trials.
Hungary and Poland are already at loggerheads with Brussels over the EU’s long-term budget. And Hungary’s maverick approach could spark a new rift. “Maybe it will be safe and effective, but this is less about the virus or the vaccine, and more about government propaganda telling us that, when in trouble, the Russians are friends who help us first,” said Gabriella Lantos, a health expert with the New World opposition party.
Orban brushes off such claims and insists his country’s geographic position on the EU’s eastern fringe forces cooperation with larger powers. An Ipsos survey last month showed willingness in Hungary to take a Covid-19 vaccine if available was among the lowest in Europe, ahead only of Poland and Russia.
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