Pfizer to send 4.4 m vaccine doses to Hungary

Hungary will receive a total of 4.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in the 2020-2021 period, including 80,000 doses scheduled to arrive before the end of this year, representatives of Pfizer Gyógyszerkereskedelmi Kft. told an online press conference on Monday.

Krisztina Zsigmondi, the company’s vaccine distribution chief, said that the European Commission had reserved 200 million doses, and would have an option for a further 100 million in 2020-2021.

Zsigmondi said that the vaccines would be distributed under agreements with the government and would only be available through the centrally designated vaccination spots rather than from private suppliers or from pharmacies.

Tamás Fabó, Pfizer’s medical director in Hungary, said that

clinical trials had indicated that the vaccine was 95 percent effective.

He added, however, that it was not yet known how long the vaccine would ensure protection against Covid-19. Those inoculated will be monitored for two years, he said.

Péter Vereckei, managing director of Pfizer Gyógyszerkereskedelmi, said that the vaccine had been developed using mRNA technology, which allowed rapid reactions to possible mutations of the virus, adding that

a new vaccine could be produced in as little as six weeks.

Vereckei also said that mRNA technology had been developed by Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó, who lives in the US.

As we wrote today, Hungary has taken delivery of 6,000 ampoules of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine, details HERE.

Read alsoCoronavirus in Hungary: No side effects of vaccine reported so far

Source: MTI