Virologist: 300,000 vaccinated Hungarians are not really protected

Despite being vaccinated, almost 300,000 Hungarians do not have a proper immune system reaction to fight covid.

Hungary is officially open for tourists. Moreover, after vaccinating 5,5 million people, wearing a mask in most spaces is not mandatory anymore.

Where to still wear a mask in Hungary

This opening is the fruit of a successful vaccination process. Over 5,5 million doses were administered in the country, meaning that most of the population is protected against Covid-19. But is this actually the case?

Virologist Miklós Rusvai told ATV that, similarly to the Sinopharm vaccine, the AstraZeneca jab does not cause a sufficient immune reaction in the case of 15-20% of people who were inoculated with it. As a result,

there are almost 300,000 people in Hungary who received the vaccine but are not entirely protected.

“Unfortunately, in the case of AstraZeneca, as well, the number of those who do not have a sufficient level of antibodies is very high”, told the virologist. However, there is a slight difference. Despite not producing antibodies, those inoculated with AstraZeneca will still have a cell-mediated immunity. When it comes to Sinopharm, there is a slight chance that this happens.

ATV reached out to the pharmaceutical company, asking about the Hungarian virologist’s words.

AstraZeneca denies everything Rusvai stated. 

They say that they do not know precisely what data the virologist used as the basis of his statement and about which variant he was talking. Based on research data coming from real-life cases,

they are sure to say that the AstraZeneca vaccine provides high protection both against the alpha and the delta variants of the coronavirus disease.

Since Rusvai says that hundreds of thousands of people are not adequately protected, he offers a solution. “From a virologist’s/immunologist’s point of view, I am absolutely an advocate for the third dose. Nevertheless, it needs to happen with a different vaccine and not the vaccination given before”, quotes portfolio.hu the words of Rusvai.

For this reason, even though the government does not support the idea, it is important to mention that it is not against the law to travel to Romania to receive the third shot.

Many Hungarians travel to Romania to get a third vaccine jab

Miklós Rusvai also agrees with this idea. Furthermore, he suggests that the government should create this possibility for everyone in Hungary before October. Or else, people will continue to go to Romania to do so. He also thinks that all research and data on the efficiency of all vaccines need to be made public. That would make the government’s work easier when it comes to taking certain decisions considering restrictions, for instance.

Read alsoDo not throw them away: masks could be back in autumn in Hungary?

Source: portfolio.hu, ATV.hu