The decision by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to have a Hungarian aircraft make a special flight to Beijing to take 550,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine on board, has made Hungary the number one in Europe, in terms of vaccinations. Hungary has so far vaccinated 14 percent of the population, and expects to reach 100 percent by the end of July—pending delivery of the European Astra-Zeneca vaccine of which it previously ordered 19 million doses. Critique of his policy Orban rejected, stating: “It would be irresponsible to let Hungarians die just because the European vaccine does not arrive in time.”
One of the aspects that enabled Hungary to conduct the vaccination campaign with speed, is that it did not waste time building up a bureaucratic infrastructure for that, but just told citizens to register online, their registration then passed on to hospitals or practising doctors who then gave the vaccination.
