There are three coronavirus vaccine experiments under way around the world whose results appear to be promising, the head infectology physician of the Szent László Hospital said at the Saturday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic.

János Szlávik added that the first effective vaccine against the coronavirus was likely to be one of these three.

In his words, it is very good news from the viewpoint of the experiments conducted so far that after recovery monkeys infected with the coronavirus cannot be re-infected due to the fact that the experimental vaccine is able to trigger an immune response in their bodies.

At the same time, the expert drew attention to the fact that “we must be careful with the speed of development”. He recalled that in 1966 haste in the production of a vaccine against the RS virus led to a more severe progression of the disease in patients who received the experimental vaccine, compared with those who received no vaccination.

The head physician said earlier we heard reports to the effect that already this summer pharmaceutical companies would start manufacturing the vaccine in tens of millions. This is possible if pharmaceutical companies accumulate vast quantities of the vaccine before the completion of the necessary tests, and if the test results prove to be positive, they can start distributing the vaccine immediately.

Regarding drugs and therapies used in the treatment of coronavirus infection in Hungary, Mr Szlávik said physicians have at their disposal a preparation registered in 2014 in Japan for the treatment of the flu which doctors in China successfully administered in the case of medium-severe coronavirus patients. The drug prevents the progression of the disease from turning severe.

It has no particular side-effects; its only drawback is that it must be taken in relatively large doses and cannot be used during pregnancy, he added. He said they are also using drugs which proved effective against other illnesses earlier, antiviral medicines, biological therapies and plasma therapy.

In answer to a question about two drugs successfully administered against coronavirus infection in Cuba, the head infectology physician said one of them is a biological therapy which is also effective in Hungary in cases where the disease becomes severe on day 5 or 6 in consequence of an immunological storm and the patient requires assisted ventilation. The other one is an experimental group of preparations, peptides, and it is hard to believe that these could be developed into an effective drug within a short time. However, as part of an earlier development, it is possible that with the two preparations they managed to alleviate the severity of cases in Cuba, he observed.

Regarding patients requiring assisted ventilation in Hungary due to coronavirus infection, Mr Szlávik said 80 to 90 per cent of them are elderly persons who also suffer from other underlying chronic diseases. “Younger persons without chronic diseases are extremely rare,” he pointed out.

The expert advised the parents of nursery school-age children who suffer from chronic upper respiratory diseases to keep their children at home because the disease is a greater threat to them even if we know that children fall ill very rarely due to coronavirus infection.

Mr Szlávik also said the coronavirus attacks not only the lungs. “In consequence of the infection, tiny blood clots develop which could reach the brain, the heart, the kidneys and also the skin,” he said, indicating that these are all symptoms which follow a severe case of coronavirus infection, and fatalities, too, often occur in consequence of these, rather than due to the direct effect of the virus.

The head infectology physician said he sincerely hopes that those who will take leave in the summer will be able to travel, if not abroad within Hungary. “It will be a bit strange that people will have to leave a distance of a metre and a half when checking in, waiters will be wearing face masks, tables will be further away from one another, we can forget about buffet meals, and according to the present rules there will be far fewer people in pools as well,”, he said.

Mr Szlávik finally thanked the health care workers of the South Pest Central Hospital and of all other hospitals around the country as well as everyone who is taking part in the containment of the epidemic, doing their best, and those who observe the rules, hold on and stand united.

Spokesperson for the National Police Constabulary Kristóf Gál outlined the latest national epidemic data: the number of confirmed infections currently stands at 3,713, on Friday 6 elderly patients died, and as a result, the number of the deceased has risen to 482. There are 1,655 recovered patients, the number of active infections has fallen to 1,576 and 462 persons are being treated in hospital, including 21 requiring assisted ventilation.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)