Turkey would welcome Hungarian help in vaccine testing

Turkey would welcome assistance by Hungarian experts during the third, clinical phase of testing its coronavirus vaccine, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said in Ankara on Monday after talks with Turkish counterpart Fahrettin Koca.

The Turkish initiative would enable them to examine if the vaccine can be added to the of assortment of jabs deployed in Hungary against the disease, Szijjártó told MTI.

Turkey is developing 16 vaccines, he said, adding that the one in the most advanced stage is expected to reach phase 3 in the next three to four months.

The minister said that Turkey will also produce Russian vaccines, and has purchased tens of million doses of Chinese vaccines.

“Let’s not forget that the West has changed it approach to Chinese and Russian vaccines. Initially it showed contempt for them but now it is supporting their use, or has at least adopted a wait-and-see attitude,” he said.

The two ministers agreed that the pandemic can only be tamed through vaccination.

Szijjártó earlier held talks with Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank.

Russian vaccine gets green light for use in Hungary – Hungary already ordered 19.7 million vaccines from Western producers (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Curevac), from which Pfizer and Moderna shipped 0.5 million. The first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccines arrived last week containing 40,800 doses enough for 20,400 people. Furthermore, the government signed contracts with Russian and Chinese pharmaceutical factories, as well. In the former case, Budapest ordered 2 million, while in the latter 5 million jabs, and 20 thousand of the Sputnik V arrived on Tuesday. Details HERE.

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Source: MTI