Hungary becomes the first country in the EU to approve Chinese Covid vaccine

Hungary became the first European Union Member State to authorise the use of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine.

Sinopharm, one of the two main vaccines produced in China, was given temporary authorisation on Friday by the country's National Institute of Pharmacy, reports Euronews

The announcement came after Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban said that he had the most confidence in the Chinese vaccine.

"I will wait my turn and when the time comes, I will choose the Chinese vaccine," he said in his weekly radio interview.

"The Chinese have the longest experience with this virus, so they are probably the best informed."

This means that Hungary continues to diverge from the EU, where only Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been licensed so far by the European Medicines Agency.

Also, last week Hungarian authorities granted a six-month authorisation to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

The government says its strategy is to immunise the population by deploying as many different inoculations as possible.

Officials are also preparing a decree that would approve any vaccine that has already been received by over a million people worldwide.

Hungarians are historically among the most reluctant Europeans towards vaccines, although interest has increased since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Sinopharm raised concerns among some observers after it published interim results in December showing it had a 79% efficacy rate, lower than vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.