Despite the government’s boasting, Hungarians do not trust the Russian and Chinese vaccines

Viktor Orbán and Péter Szijjártó are also talking more and more often about certain coronavirus vaccines from China and Russia, which can even be used in Hungary. However, the majority of Hungarians prefer to rely on European preparations, according to the representative research of the Pulzus researcher.

The government has agreed with Russia that Hungary wants to buy a Russian vaccine, and in December, they can deliver smaller quantities of it so that the necessary tests can be carried out in Hungary. By the second half of January, it may also be realistic to be able to buy larger quantities from Russia; Péter Szijjártó said that the issue of the vaccine would be politicised, writes Napi.

Efforts must be made to obtain the vaccine from as many sources as possible, said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in a statement to the Russian television channel RT on Wednesday.

Péter Szijjártó is probably not mistaken, as the government has maintained close ties with Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, China, and other moderately democratic countries over the past 10 years under the heading of “opening to the east” and has entered into deals with them that are questionable. For example, the Russian metro cars, Paks 2, or the precious Budapest-Belgrade railway line. Szijjárto said earlier that the Russian vaccine will be available in Hungary from December.

The government is still waiting for Russian and Chinese samples, which will be tested, but bad news has come from both countries over the past few weeks. The Russian vaccine was found to not work in several patients, and the Russian authorities had already authorised it before testing was completed. According to the Moscow Times, at least three health workers were infected with the coronavirus after being vaccinated with a Russian vaccine called Sputnik V. The Hungarian government also plans to buy this product.

The perfect vaccine has also not yet been developed in China, and clinical testing of a vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company Sinovac in Brazil had to be suspended due to a “serious side effect” on October 29. Of course, suspending testing does not mean that these formulas are completely unreliable. Previously, the testing of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines also had to be stopped for a while because one of the test subjects experienced a serious side effect. The European Commission has also signed a contract with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, and Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies in the Johnson & Johnson group for the supply of vaccines and, more recently, Pfizer and BioNTech, which, according to preliminary data collected in its final stages, showed an efficiency of over 90%.

It seems that Hungarians also tend to trust the European vaccine,

as 53 per cent of them would only give themselves what the European Union has allowed. The proportion of those who would even give the Chinese or Russian vaccine immediately was only 11 per cent, while 10 per cent stated that they would only use them if the epidemic situation further worsened, according to Napi.

At the same time, it is alarming that 17 per cent of people would not take any vaccine against the coronavirus, and 9 per cent reject all vaccinations as they are anti-vaccination. Research has also shown that the higher the level of education, the more trust there is in only European-licensed vaccinations, and the proportion of those who do not receive vaccination is much lower than among those who have graduated or those who have completed primary school.

Not only education but also the place of residence determines the attitude of Hungarians towards vaccinations. For example, 16 per cent of those living in municipalities would inject the Russian or Chinese vaccine immediately, compared to 7-9 per cent of those living in larger settlements. The research also revealed that vaccination resistance is strongest in smaller settlements and least common in Budapest. Budapest also has the most trust in the products for which the EU has given its blessing.

While only 49 per cent of 18-39-year-olds would submit a product approved exclusively by the European Union, this proportion is over 59 per cent. In contrast, elderly people would get the highest proportion (14 per cent) of Russian vaccinations immediately. However, the older someone is, the less anti-vaccination they are.

The gender breakdown shows that there are far more women who refuse vaccination against the coronavirus, but the overall prevalence of vaccination is also higher among them.

Source: Napi.hu