The decision followed a government decree on Thursday that streamlined Hungary’s vaccine approval procedure. Any vaccine that has been administered to at least one million people worldwide may now be approved for use in
“Today, the
The decree also allows any vaccine approved by three countries, with at least one being an EU member-state or candidate for EU membership, to sidestep Hungary’s medicines regulator and be approved for use.
Sinopharm has been approved in several countries including
Last week, Hungarian authorities became the first in the EU to approve the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and jumped ahead of the
In December, the EU told
In a Friday interview with public radio, Hungary’s prime minister,
“I'm waiting for the Chinese vaccine, I trust in that the most," Orban said. "Some people think about vaccines ideologically, and they need a western one and not an eastern one. I think the Chinese have known this virus for the longest, and they probably know it the best."
Hungarian officials have criticized the EU for what they see as a slow vaccine rollout, and in recent months have insisted that procuring vaccines developed in both western and eastern countries, like
In a Facebook post Friday, Foreign Minister
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