Hungarian FM: ‘Saving lives not to be mixed up with politics’

“Saving human lives must not be mixed up with politics,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in New York on Wednesday, adding that “some players set that principle aside during the coronavirus pandemic and considered the vaccines as political statements based on their country of origin”.

A statement from the foreign ministry quoted the minister as saying at a discussion on health care organised within the UN General Assembly session now underway that such behaviour was “irresponsible”, adding that “political decisions must not cause people to die”. Application of various vaccines should be treated as a medical question, while “the country of origin of applications or products must not be the subject of political disputes”, Szijjártó said.

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On another subject, Szijjártó said the Hungarian government was committed to the UN’s objectives aimed at providing clean drinking water to all residents globally. In Hungary, he added, everybody has access to clean water.

In another development, he said differences of health care in each country should not be considered as a legal basis for illegal migration. Hungary has so far received some 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine, and provided them with the same health services and schooling as its own residents, Szijjártó said.

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Source: MTI