Hungary rejoins EU’s vaccine procurement system due to Omicron variant -PM

Chairman of Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Clinical Center, Csaba Lengyel administers a dose of the Sinopharm coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to Zoltan Peto, director of the Szeged Epidemiological Supply Center at the University in Szeged, Hungary, February 24, 2021. Tibor Rosta/MTI/MTVA/Handout via Reuters

BUDAPEST, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Hungary decided to rejoin the European Union’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement process to shield its population from the Omicron variant, ordering 9.5 million doses of the jab developed by BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) and Pfizer (PFE.N).

Prime Minister Viktor Orban also told a news conference on Tuesday that he expected the European Commission would publish a clear stance before the end of the year including nuclear energy in its “sustainable finance taxonomy”, a rulebook that will restrict which activities can be labelled as climate friendly investments.

Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Krisztina Than; editing by Jason Neely

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