Hungarians travel to Romania for the Pfizer vaccine?

Many Hungarians, who were inoculated with the Chinese vaccine, travel to Romania to get a third jab of the Pfizer/BioNTech serum.

The Chinese vaccine and its possibly very low effectiveness in pushing the body to create antibodies, even after having received both shots, have been quite a big deal in Hungary. Since the country mainly uses this serum, especially for most elderly people, the high number of reported cases of people not having a proper immune reaction is alarming.

There is no protocol for whether someone can receive a third booster vaccine if there is no sufficient immune reaction. For this reason,

many Hungarians, whether in accordance with their family doctor or in complete secrecy, have decided to hop over to neighbouring Romania to get a third jab of the Pfizer vaccine.

The Chinese vaccine is fishy while Pfizer produces spectacular numbers

Virologist Miklós Rusvai told 24.hu that he actually knows about Hungarian doctors giving a booster shot to their patients in Hungary, as it is their personal decision whether they see it as a necessary step. Even though each and every dose needs to be administered, if a bit of the serum is left behind in the ampoule, or someone does not show up for his second dose, it is better to make use of it rather than throwing it out. He also mentioned that an insufficient immune reaction could happen with other vaccines as well; we can not concentrate only on the Chinese one. But in case it happens,

he advises receiving the booster shot of a different vaccine.

This is what happened to a Hungarian man over 60 years of age, who was fully vaccinated in March with the Chinese Sinopharm but had no immune reaction two weeks later. Since nothing happened and he did not get any information on what to do, his doctor advised him in May to try to get a booster vaccine somewhere abroad, also because his immune system looked like he had not received any vaccine. As he heard that Romania offers to inoculate foreign citizens of the EU without registration, only showing an ID card, he looked up the possible vaccine centres. He travelled to the country twice to receive two other jabs at a temporary vaccine spot where you do not even need to get out of your car.

Not everyone can be vaccinated in Romania, though. At least four weeks need to pass after having received the second jab. In Bahrein, for instance, people having received the Chinese vaccine but left without an immune reaction can get a third shot of the Pfizer jab, but strictly six months after the second Sinopharm dose.

According to Romanian sources,

out of the 4.5 million people who have been vaccinated in the country, roughly 20,000 were foreigners.

Even though Rusvai says it can happen with any serum, it seems that in Hungary, the biggest problem regarding a low number of antibodies is related to the Chinese vaccine when it comes to the elderly over 60.

There is a suspicious number of people from this age group who have not been able to produce a sufficient immune reaction after having been tested on more than one occasions for antibodies.

They even formed a Facebook group where hundreds of people already shared their experience and lab results, backed by virologists and immunologists. They ask for a free antibody test offered by the government, along with a third jab, if necessary.

Béla Merkely, the rector of Semmelweis University, says that “there is no evident connection between the number of anti-bodies and the level of protection.” Still, if someone receives an unfavourable result on the antibody test after receiving both jabs, he is offered a free and special test by the university. He did not say, however, anything about what to do next if this test comes back negative, as well.

Even though Merkely says the antibody level has no significance, his statement seems to be suspicious. In the case of the patient above, who had previously had a test with 0 antibodies, after having been inoculated with only the first dose of Pfizer, the amount of immune reaction was rather convincing.

It is important to know, however, that in case someone gets a jab in Romania, he will only receive a paper about it, but no information will be uploaded to the Hungarian electronic health care system, meaning that

the original Sinopharm serum will remain his official vaccine.

Romania is not the only country around Hungary to offer a vaccine. Serbia also welcomes foreigners who would like to be protected. As of March, over 22,000 foreign citizens were vaccinated in the country.

Source: 24.hu, dailynewshungary, telex.hu