Claim that Hungary opposed BioNTech/Moderna vaccine purchase ‘lie’, says minister

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday that “every word” German Social Democrat politician Karl Lauterbach said in a recent Twitter post about Hungary having opposed the acquisition of BioNTech/Moderna vaccines because they were too expensive “was a lie”.

Lauterbach said it was unfair that Hungary was buying Russian Sputnik vaccine when it had hindered the acquisition of the western vaccine.

Szijjártó said on Facebook that this was “fake news in the German social democrat-style”.

“Every word is a lie,” he added.

As we wrote before, the Hungarian government became the first in the EU who buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, also Hungary is became the first EU member to approve China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Hungary has five Covid-19 vaccines approved by Hungary’s drug authority: Pfizer, Moderna AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V and Sinopharm.