Currently the official website vakcinainfo.gov.hu is not in English. Here's a summary of what key players in Budapest have said about the process of registering for the Coronavirus vaccine in Hungary.

Government spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi confirmed that Covid vaccination in Hungary will be free and voluntary, and that it will not be given to people in order of registration but according to an official vaccination plan. 

She said that priority will be given to healthcare staff and other frontline workers, plus patients with special needs.

She added that if someone registers, they can still change their mind later if they decide not to be vaccinated for any reason e.g. not being able to choose which vaccine they get.

The prime minister’s cabinet chief, Antal Rogán, recently said on TV news channel HírTV, “Anyone who wants to get vaccinated in the future, should sign up. Vaccination will not be mandatory, even if someone applies now. 

If you apply, you will be contacted when the vaccination is here. People can still decide not to vaccinate then. But if they don’t sign up, we don’t know you want to get it, so you’ll be further back in the line.”

Hungary’s chief epidemiologist, János Szlávik, is quoted in this regard as saying that if people could choose from available Covid vaccines, it would be like a cancer patient deciding which medical drugs they wanted to take.

The physician noted that the choice of such drugs is a professional decision, and doctors are best placed to know which vaccine is best for the elderly, or for children, and so on.

PM Orbán is on the record about the choice of vaccine as follows, “Sometime in Spring there will be not one, but two or three types of vaccine in Hungary, and everyone can choose whichever they trust to be vaccinated with”. 

The Hungarian Prime Minister has confirmed this approach several times, for example by saying “Hungary has decided to procure vaccines from several places so that Hungarians can decide which one they trust the most.”


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