Hungarian president receives injection of Chinese vaccine against COVID-19

BUDAPEST - Hungarian President Janos Ader received an injection of China's Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19 on Friday, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

Ader's doctors have advised him to get vaccinated as soon as possible, MTI said.

Meanwhile, in a short message aired by Hungarian public television M1, Ader called on all Hungarians to register for the vaccination as soon as possible.

"Anyone who gets the chance to receive the first and then the second vaccine with any product approved by the Hungarian authorities and Hungarian experts should do so," Ader said.

"Let's trust our doctors, let's trust our healthcare system," Ader said, adding that he hoped that Hungarians would soon leave the pandemic behind.

Hungary currently has stocks of vaccines from five producers, including China's Sinopharm. The first shipment of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Budapest on Feb 16. Hungary has started to administer the Sinopharm vaccine on Feb 24.

As of Friday, 521,283 people had received at least the first shot of a vaccine, while 240,622 had two jabs, according to the government's coronavirus information website.