How successful has the Covid-19 vaccine drive been in your country?

Hungary participates in European vaccine research programs. Domestic research programs are also in progress. We have so far ordered 31 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, CureVac, Sinopharm, and Sputnik V. The government has complied with European regulations regarding the procurement of vaccines. 

All available vaccines have been approved by Hungarian experts. In the vaccination schedule, healthcare workers are the first, followed by people in need of nursing home care, as well as social workers. Vaccination of the oldest people registered for vaccination as well as people below 60 with chronic illness also began in the first days of February.

What is the economic forecast for your country for the first half of 2021?

Compared to the GDP decline of 5.1 percent in 2020, our economy is forecast to grow by 3.5 percent in 2021. Covid-19 vaccination could curb the epidemic. The economy is expected to rebound in Q2 2021. The rebound is supported by the competitiveness of the domestic economy and Hungary’s ability to attract FDI, as evidenced by the recently announced investments and projects of domestic and foreign companies. The mitigation of the economic impacts of the pandemic remains in focus in 2021. Our priority is to protect and reboot our economy.

In light of the recent near-total abortion ban in Poland, how strong are women's rights in your country?

A priority of the conservative government since 2010 has been to make it easier for women to have children without losing out on their career paths. The government has prioritized offering support to mothers with young children to enter or to return to the labor market. A positive shift is clearly evidenced by the statistical data. The current employment rate of women is the highest in more than 20 years – the employment rate of women aged 20-64 was 75.3 percent in 2019 – with those with children under six accounting for the largest increase.