Orbán said epidemiological experts, professors and scientists with whom he had consulted had “uniformly” recommended keeping the restrictions, which had been set to expire on December 11, in place. The decision to go with that advice was taken by the Operative Corps, the body coordinating Hungary’s response to the pandemic, early on Monday, he said.  

An exception to the curfew, which runs between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., could be made for Christmas Eve, but a decision on the matter will not be taken until December 21, the PM said. No exception will be made for New Year’s Eve, however.

Hungary will get documentation on a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine within days, State Secretary Tamás Menczer said in his own message posted on Facebook on December 5. Hungary is in contact with three Chinese vaccine makers: two privately-owned and one state-owned, Menczer said. The state-owned company is at a more advanced stage and plans mass immunization this year, he added.

Hungary could consider purchasing the vaccine after a study of the documentation by experts at the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (OGYEI), Menczer said. The National Public Health Center (NKK) will also weigh in on the matter, he added.

Sputnik Trials?

Hungary is also weighing whether to participate in clinical trials of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Minister for Human Capacities Miklós Kásler said December 7, according to telex.hu. Between 3,000 and 5,000 Hungarians could participate in the trial, Kásler said. A delegation of Hungarian experts who visited Russia a week earlier have reported that Sputnik V’s development is “taking place in line with conditions prescribed by the WHO,” he added.

Kásler said the delegation that travelled to Russia included experts from the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (OGYEI), a virologist of the National Public Health Center (NKK), and doctors from the Korányi National Institute of Pulmonology and vaccine maker Fluart.

The delegation visited the laboratory supplying the Sputnik V vaccine and the clinic where 22,000 people have been inoculated so far, he added. He said Russians who get the vaccine remain at the clinic for observation for a few hours before returning home where they remain in video contact with one of 300 doctors who check in on their condition every day.

Registration for vaccination against the novel coronavirus in Hungary has started on the website vakcinainfo.gov.hu, the country’s chief medical officer Dr. Cecília Müller said on December 8, according to state news agency MTI. Müller said registration involves providing one’s name, address, health insurance number, telephone number and e-mail address.

The contact information will be used to inform those who register where and when they can be vaccinated, she added. The registration aims to gauge demand for the vaccine, she said. It will not be administered on a first-come, first-served basis, rather healthcare and other frontline workers along with Hungarians with chronic illnesses will have priority, she added.

Hungary’s government has said it will make COVID-19 vaccine available to anybody who wants it free of charge. The country is in talks with vaccine producers in Russia, China and Israel, and has signed up for the European Union’s joint vaccine orders. Müller said Hungary has pre-ordered 17.5 million doses of vaccine from various producers, but she added that people would not get a choice of which vaccine they would be inoculated with.

This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of December 11, 2020.