"Speeding up vaccination is a national priority. Due to slow deliveries of the vaccine, we were forced to look for a new source to secure quick deliveries of a reliable vaccine. It is a great honour and pleasure for me to announce that we signed an agreement today, under which Russia will deliver the vaccine to the Hungarian territory in three stages," Szijjarto said after talks with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in Moscow.
The official added that Budapest is in talks with Moscow on purchasing two million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
"Under this agreement, we will have access to a batch of the vaccine needed to inoculate 1 million citizens, this means we are talking about potentially two million doses, given that it is a two-component vaccine. We agreed on a three-stage acquisition of the vaccine. In the first month, we will receive 300,000 doses, in the second month we will get 500,000 doses, and in the third month we will get 200,000 doses," Szijjarto said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Quick vaccination will save many lives of the Hungarian citizens, the foreign minister continued.
"The sides discussed the implementation of agreements reached at the 13th session of the intergovernmental commission, which was held in Budapest on November 27, 2020. Cooperation in healthcare, and Russian Sputnik V vaccine deliveries to Hungary in particular, were the key topic," the Russian ministry said in a statement.
The Russian Direct Investment Funds signed with Hungary a contract on vaccine deliveries, according to Murashko.
In August, Russia became the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine, which was named Sputnik V. The clinical trials of the jab have shown an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent.
Sputnik V was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute and marketed abroad by the RDIF.
