BUDAPEST: Hungary on Wednesday became the first EU nation to start using China’s coronavirus Sinopharm vaccine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

The country of 10 million has ordered around five million doses of the Chinese jab, and has already started inoculating its population with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine — another EU first. Budapest has repeatedly criticised what it says is the slow pace of vaccine procurement by the EU, which is says has forced it to look elsewhere for jabs. Orban took to Facebook Wednesday to confirm the Sinopharm rollout. “Today we begin to inoculate with the Chinese vaccines,” he said in a video message.

Hungarian hospitals have seen an influx of coronavirus patients this month, with a reported 102 new deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the country’s overall death toll to 14,552.