25% of Hungarians vaccinated against H1N1

One in four Hungarians has been inoculated against the H1N1 virus, placing Hungary behind only Sweden and the Netherlands, Health Minister Tamás Székely told reporters yesterday.

The number of residents consulting doctors about H1N1 symptoms dropped last week thanks to the vaccines, but Székely still recommends that everyone be inoculated.

National chief medical officer Ferenc Falus said 2.5 million people have been inoculated in Hungary against H1N1 and an estimated 500,000 have contracted the virus.

A total of 586 undesirable side effect reactions to the vaccine have been reported, National Pharmaceutical Institute director Zsu­zsanna Szepezdi told reporters. Most complained of rising temperatures, fever, a general bad feeling, headaches, coughing and gastric ailments.

A 48-year-old male became Hungary’s 45th fatality attributed to the new flu at Nagy kanizsa’s Dorottya Hospital on the weekend after three weeks of medical treatment, it was announced on Tuesday.

The patient had not been vaccinated against the H1N1 virus and was in a critical state throughout the three weeks because of the infection and its complications.

Fidesz health specialist Imre Pesti said the government did everything wrong that it could in introducing the vaccine, but he encouraged everyone to have themselves inoculated. Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán said in November that he would not get the vaccine.

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