Is the Chinese vaccine really ineffective for the elderly? WHO says the opposite
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that China’s Sinopharm vaccine is effective also in protecting the elderly against Covid-19, a foreign ministry official said on Tuesday. Sinopharm was the vaccine the Hungarian opposition attacked the most saying that it is unsafe and ineffective. They stressed that the Chinese product should only be used after it received the approval of the European Medicine Agency.
Tamás Menczer, the state secretary for communications and international representation, said in a video message on Facebook that WHO released earlier in the day its
detailed recommendations on Sinopharm.
Menczer quoted WHO as saying that based on currently available data it recommends using the Chinese vaccine also for the inoculation of people aged older than 60. WHO said it had no data suggesting any difference in the effect of Sinopharm on people in older or younger age groups, the state secretary added.
WHO, Menczer noted, announced on May 7 that it had approved the Chinese vaccine as effective and safe.
As we reported before, István Tényi, formerly a member of the currently governing Fidesz party, has filed a report to the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of
criminal misconduct related to the acquisition of the Sinopharm vaccines.
The company that executed the shipping of the Chinese vaccines to Hungary, namely the Danubia Pharma LLC, has an obscure ownership structure, and according to Tényi and the news agency’s point of view, there should not have been any payment to a company without proper transparency from the central budget under the Fundamental Law of Hungary.
It is unclear to the general public who might profit from the shipment deal, but Válaszonline uncovered some information about the possibility regarding the people behind the company. They wrote that the Danubia Pharma LLC is currently under the ownership of Syndonite Med PLC, which seems to be owned by two stooges. The portal believes that the person behind the deal might be Márk Szeverényi, the brother-in-law of László Szabó, who currently is in a leading position in a government-close media holding.
After a short while, Tényi has received an answer to the report he filed on suspicion of criminal misconduct from the Anti-corruption Department of the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation. The letter stated that a similar report had already been issued and hence the second report did not add anything to the prior in terms of charges or evidence, Tényi’s report became null and void. Still, he received information that the previous, similar report was rejected.
This leaves the investigation at a stalemate and whether there is anything shady behind the shipping of the vaccines remains unknown.
As we reported earlier, PM Viktor Orbán received the Chinese vaccine in February.
Source: MTI