Hungary starts using Chinese vaccines as third wave of pandemic looms

A man receives a dose of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Nagykata, Hungary on Feb. 24, 2021. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hungary has started to administer China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, as a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic looms, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday.

Hungary currently has five vaccines at hand to fend off the virus, including the Sinopharm vaccine. The first shipment of Sinopharm vaccines purchased by Hungary arrived in Budapest on Feb. 16.

The Central European country on Wednesday registered 2,855 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour span, raising the national total to 410,129, according to official data.

As of Wednesday, 471,004 people have received at least the first vaccine jab, while 208,846 have received two jabs, according to the government's coronavirus information website.

A family doctor administers a dose of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to a woman in Nagykata, Hungary on Feb. 24, 2021. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via Xinhua)

A family doctor shows a box of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Varoslod, Hungary on Feb. 24, 2021. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via Xinhua)

A family doctor administers a dose of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to a woman in Nagykata, Hungary on Feb. 24, 2021. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via Xinhua)

Boxes of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine are distributed to family doctors for vaccination in Kecskemet, Hungary on Feb. 24, 2021. (Sandor Ujvari/MTI via Xinhua)