Hungary rolls out China's Sinopharm jab amid lagging trust

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Doctors in Hungary on Wednesday began administering a COVID-19 vaccine developed in China, making the country the first European Union nation to use a Chinese jab as officials aim to bolster trust in its safety and effectiveness.

General practitioners around the Central European country were instructed to administer the shots, developed by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm, to elderly patients. The Sinopharm jab brings the number of vaccines currently in use in Hungary to five including the Russian-developed Sputnik V, more than in any other country in the 27-nation EU.

But for the country's expanded palette of vaccines to be put to full use, officials are seeking to increase lagging public trust in those produced in Eastern countries.

“I ask for all fears to be dispelled about the Chinese and Russian vaccines, because more than 30 million people have received these vaccines without any particular problems,” Hungary's chief medical officer, Cecilia Muller, said at a virtual media briefing Wednesday.

Hungary’s government has sharply criticized the speed of the EU’s vaccine procurement program, and sought to purchase doses from countries like China and Russia despite polling that shows trust in those vaccines is low among Hungarians.

A survey of 1,000 people in the capital of Budapest by pollster Median and the 21 Research Center showed that among those willing to be vaccinated, only 27% would take a Chinese vaccine and 43% a Russian vaccine, compared to 84% who would take a jab developed in Western countries. The poll, which was conducted at the end of January, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.

Still, Hungarian officials expect that the Sinopharm vaccine, which received final approval last week, will provide a sharp boost in the country’s vaccination rate: as many as...