Hungary has agreed to buy five million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinopharm. A Chinese state-owned company. The doses are priced at approximately $36, or 30 euros, each. The price is much higher than the European Union is paying for vaccines from Western manufacturers, about 15.50 euros per dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The contracts made public by Mr. Gulyas, a senior Hungarian official, also revealed Hungary agreed to pay $9.95 per dose for the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.
The government exempted Sinopharm from having to take part in an open public procurement process and was awarded the contract with Hungary. The involvement of a third party raises some red flags as anti corruption watchdogs worry about price gouging. Hungary is one of the few European countries to make a contract with Sinopharm after Sinopharm is promoting itself to developing countries. Sinopharm has said it can produce up to three billion doses of the vaccine by the end of this year.
Read more:Hungary pays big for a Chinese vaccine
