With Central and Eastern European countries still gripped by Covid-19, the EU’s slow vaccine rollout has offered little solace in the region. The light at the end of the tunnel seems far away, leading many to wonder whether the answer to vaccine shortages lies not in Brussels, but to the East. Interest in Russian and Chinese vaccines is certainly fast becoming a diplomatic issue for the region.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš recently caused a stir with two international visits. The first was to his Visegrád Four ally Hungary, the second to non-EU Serbia, far and away mainland Europe’s vaccine leader:
Babiš suggested both trips were made with the intention of working out what these countries’ vaccine programmes got right.
A defining characteristic is their readiness to use vaccines developed by Russia and China. Hungary recently became the first EU country to start using the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and will soon begin administering the Chinese Sinopharm jab, having taken the approval of both medicines into its own hands.
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