Government to launch vaccination campaign for Hungarians over 60

Under a new government programme, general practitioners will visit Hungarians over 60 years of age in their homes to convince them to accept the coronavirus vaccine, the prime minister’s chief of staff said on Wednesday.

Those registering for the vaccine now can receive the first jab within two days, Gergely Gulyás told a regular press briefing.

The pandemic is not over yet, Gulyás warned. Experts expect a fourth wave, dangerous mostly to those who have not received the vaccine, he said.

The six vaccines in use today in Hungary all provide protection against all known mutations of the virus, he said.

Gulyás noted that the Delta variant of the virus could spread six or seven times as fast as the original virus.

He said Hungary was one of Europe’s safest countries in terms of the status of the epidemic.

So far, more than half a million people have applied for the EU’s Digital Green Certificate, he said, urging travellers to look up their destination country’s Covid regulations.

Gulyás said most countries accepted the vaccines approved by the World Health Organization, including China’s Sinopharm jab.

As regards Hungary’s coronavirus stats, he said those who have died from the infection in recent days had not been inoculated.

On another subject, he said the government is tying the exports of certain construction materials to registration to curb rising prices.

Making such exports conditional on government permission is tied to EU procedures and so can only come into force on October 1, Gulyás said. Introducing a registry of exports, however, is under the government’s purview and can be implemented immediately, he said.

The measure will concern the exports of steel and iron products, insulation materials, sand, stone, pebbles and gravel, he said.

Read alsoCoronavirus in Hungary – 1 fatality, 44 new infections

Source: MTI