Hungarian health authorities have approved the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, the government said Sunday, with 40,000 doses of the injection already to be delivered.
Official tests have been completed “and the vaccine can be given”, Miklos Kasler, the human resources minister in charge of health, said on social media.
The government announced on Tuesday that it had delivered 40,000 doses of Sputnik V, the first within the European Union.
This is the first batch of a total order of two million doses delivered over three months.
First viewed with suspicion in the West, the Russian vaccine has proven to experts its effectiveness.
The medical journal The Lancet Tuesday published study of end-stage test results shows Sputnik V to be 91.6% effective against model forms of Covid-19.
Hungary, a country of 9.8 million people near Moscow, has repeatedly criticized the slow pace of the EU vaccination process.
It is also the first EU member state to have reached an agreement with the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm, announcing an order of five million doses of its injection.
Vaccination with the Sinopharm vaccine began later in February.