BUDAPEST: Russia will allow Hungarian doctors and medical experts to observe the manufacturing process and laboratory tests for its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday.
Szijjarto told a joint news conference with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko that this could accelerate the process of Hungarian health authorities making a ruling about potential use of the anti-coronavirus vaccine in Hungary.
Mass vaccination in Russia, which has the world's fifth-highest number of recorded COVID-19 cases, has yet to begin as late-stage, Phase III clinical trials continue.
"At this stage it is unclear when exactly each vaccine (in the world) will be available in large quantities. Therefore it would be irresponsible for us to forego any options," Szijjarto said.
Hungary and Russia have agreed that, after next week's visit by Hungarian doctors, Russia could ship some of the vaccines to Budapest as soon as December.
Szijjarto said talks were also under way on how the Russian vaccine could potentially be produced in Hungary.
The Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero will manufacture over 100 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine per year under the terms of a deal with Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund unveiled on Friday.
