COVID-19 and expatriation in Hungary

fluffy2560 wrote:

Taltos167 wrote:

....

I guess we will see who "wins". 

Is it a competition?

I win 

Taltos167 wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Taltos167 wrote:

....

I guess we will see who "wins". 

Is it a competition?

Another deflection.

Classic.

For all other readers, my only interest is to present the facts. And I will only continue to present the facts to the greater audience, even when the "expert" gets it wrong and wants to try to ad hominem away the correction.

Go for it!

Another e-mail from kormany.hu about the COVID19 rollout:

Dear Sir / Madam!

Vaccination of registrants will begin in the coming days. Our oldest compatriots will be the first to receive the vaccine, now also those who live in their own homes.

From next week, their GP will look for them at the contact details provided during registration. The GP decides on the location of the vaccination, which can be the elderly person's home, GP surgery and hospital vaccination point.

The vaccines ordered by Brussels receive far fewer than necessary, so the government is constantly working to make as many vaccines available as possible from more sources.

In addition to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines used so far, the British AstraZeneca, the Russian Sputnik and the Chinese Sinopharm vaccines have also been approved by the pharmaceutical authority. Larger shipments will already arrive in February. More than 15 million people have already been vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine, including Hungarians from Vojvodina in neighboring Serbia.

The epidemic can only be overcome with a vaccine, all effective vaccines are better than the virus.

Best regards:
Coronavirus Information Center

As for interpretation considering media reports around various vaccine deliveries, YMMV

My sister got her second jab of Maderna last week.
First shot gave her a very sore arm.
Second not so sore but a few days later she had a slight fever, headache and was too tired to go into work.
Better now,

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

My sister got her second jab of Moderna last week.
First shot gave her a very sore arm.
Second not so sore but a few days later she had a slight fever, headache and was too tired to go into work.
Better now,

Very good.   Sore arm for a day is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

I read an article this morning about the Sinopharm (Chinese) vaccines as given out in Brazil.   The main discussion was the way they calculate the results.  Even though they currently rating it as only 60% efficacy, they still believe it to be useful. 

UK seems to be leading the European vaccine roll out in numbers.  Israel is way out in the lead regionally.

As reported by my travel alerts....

Hungary: Anti-lockdown protests reported in Budapest

As of the evening of 31 January 2021 hundreds of demonstrators have gathered to protest nationwide lockdown measures in the capital Budapest.

A heightened security presence is deployed in the vicinity of Heroes' Square in the city center.

Skirmishes and localized disruptions to overland travel are possible as police personnel may forcibly disperse crowds to enforce extant public gathering restrictions.

These protests seem to be happening everywhere. 5000 in Vienna today by the far right 

SimCityAT wrote:

These protests seem to be happening everywhere. 5000 in Vienna today by the far right 

Wow!  That's a lot of people.  Any idea of their motivation?

I read on the BBC that the Dodgers Stadium in LA is being blocked by anti-vaxx loonies too.  A rather large cohort for the Darwin Awards.

Anti-lockdown might be out of frustration but anti-vaxxers....pfff....

We almost went to the park yesterday, glad we didn't because of the portests in Hero's Square.
Don't need to be caught up in some sort of police sweep by accident.
Once we were taking our little walk about and next thing we were in a crowd of protesters a few years back on one of the major blvds. Took a side st. instead to avoid any trouble.
Not against protesting but I'd like t know ,"What am I fighting for'? To quote Country Joe and the Fish, that is a real throw back band.
Heard these were restaurant owners but who knows who these people were exactly.
Would be nice if we had a date in mind for things to reopen then people might not panic so much.
I understand these people may loose their businesses but where were the protests when my beauty salon was closing down? I mean having a business is always a risk and nothing is quaranteed in life.
My MIL had her own dairy store located on Vaci Utca when she was in her early 20's. Was an independent type of lady who had goals and dreams too.  After the war and her shop being closed most of the war years she was allowed to reopen but was now an employee of the gov. and allowed to manager the shop.Of course she wasn't feeling it so quit.
There are many empty shops here around the 7th district area but when things get back to "business" i'm sure someone will open up new places t shop.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

We almost went to the park yesterday, glad we didn't because of the portests in Hero's Square.
Don't need to be caught up in some sort of police sweep by accident.
Once we were taking our little walk about and next thing we were in a crowd of protesters a few years back on one of the major blvds. Took a side st. instead to avoid any trouble.
Not against protesting but I'd like t know ,"What am I fighting for'? To quote Country Joe and the Fish, that is a real throw back band.
Heard these were restaurant owners but who knows who these people were exactly.
Would be nice if we had a date in mind for things to reopen then people might not panic so much.
I understand these people may loose their businesses but where were the protests when my beauty salon was closing down? I mean having a business is always a risk and nothing is quaranteed in life.
My MIL had her own dairy store located on Vaci Utca when she was in her early 20's. Was an independent type of lady who had goals and dreams too.  After the war and her shop being closed most of the war years she was allowed to reopen but was now an employee of the gov. and allowed to manager the shop.Of course she wasn't feeling it so quit.
There are many empty shops here around the 7th district area but when things get back to "business" i'm sure someone will open up new places t shop.

We went to the anti-O1G protests once or twice but we haven't been for a very long time because of COVID and declining time.  I'm not eligible to vote any more because of Brexit.  I can only wave on Mrs Fluffy and the kids.  Mrs Fluffy has been rather busy home tutoring so doesn't have time for too many political events.

It's looking like concept of shopping only in a High Street (US: Main Street) has just about gone now.   It's not possible to do make any money with expensive buildings without having an online sales channel.  I can see the lockdown decimating the majority retail sector.   Even before COVID they were complaining about it.  The model was to check out the items physically in the shop then check on web sites to see if the item was cheaper online.  Even more so now in COVID-world.

Dunno about District 7, but maybe you've seen that new mall being finished off at Kelenföld next to Metro 4 terminus and bus/tram station.  While that'll serve the immediate high rise block apartments area, I cannot see anyone rushing there in the current circumstances. Parking will be awful probably.   

It might even have a cinema multiplex.  Doubt that'll  turn as it was envisaged.   Everyone could be avoiding going out until 2022 and with the local vaccination rate, even possibly out to 2023.  Everyone is sticking to Netflix etc.

We usually don't travel too far out of our area at these colder times of year. Our "fun" is in the spring and summer months.
My husband used to have 10 things going on at once when he was younger but these days we too are OK with hanging at home and pigging out with little treats. Sounds like we have turned into house pets!!
Went to Tesco today.
Super slow inside there and we didn't purchase half the items I had in mind to buy.
Need new drinking glasses( for water)  but didn't like the limited selection they had today.
Yesterday's morning snow was a joke, all gone now and weather getting warm this week. what happened to a real winter?
Seriously I've seen more action in S. Ca. this time of year.
I think with C-19 "they" are changing the way we pee ons do everything.
I've never been a huge fan of online shopping.
Clothing I may purchase but only from a very select  few shops I know and have been nusing for years.
My fave shops are located in the US and with the VAT I am not ordering anything, for now. As it is, I have been only wearing about 3 different outfits for months now weird since I have boxes and boxes of things to wear, just not feeling it with this mask deal.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

We usually don't travel too far out of our area at these colder times of year. Our "fun" is in the spring and summer months.
My husband used to have 10 things going on at once when he was younger but these days we too are OK with hanging at home and pigging out with little treats. Sounds like we have turned into house pets!!
Went to Tesco today.
Super slow inside there and we didn't purchase half the items I had in mind to buy.
Need new drinking glasses( for water)  but didn't like the limited selection they had today.
Yesterday's morning snow was a joke, all gone now and weather getting warm this week. what happened to a real winter?
Seriously I've seen more action in S. Ca. this time of year.
I think with C-19 "they" are changing the way we pee ons do everything.
I've never been a huge fan of online shopping.
Clothing I may purchase but only from a very select  few shops I know and have been nusing for years.
My fave shops are located in the US and with the VAT I am not ordering anything, for now. As it is, I have been only wearing about 3 different outfits for months now weird since I have boxes and boxes of things to wear, just not feeling it with this mask deal.

It says on the weather it'll be like 15 C at the weekend.  That's really more like it.  But all the outdoor spaces will be mobbed with maskless dog walkers.

We don't even bother going to the shops (apart from food) unless we need something very specific and need it quickly.  COVID has put a stop to idle browsing and mail order has superseded nearly everything from kids clothes to car spares. 

We've also reached a point where we've got just about everything we need.  We could want other stuff but it'd be all clutter and we don't need that for sure as we cannot clear out the existing junk we're drowning in   Part of the problem is that we've built up a number of "households" over the years while working away and since we came to our current house, we've been slimming it down as best we can.  At one point we had two working washing machines, two dishwashers and three toasters, three fridges, about 4 TVs and more.  We've given most of it away when we could.  It's quite hard to give away some stuff but we've found a recycling centre which will take thing like TVs and computer parts for free.   We just have to transport it there.

We might go to Ikea tomorrow if we can rustle up some enthusiasm but if we don't it won't matter - we can just look online then dash in and out for a quick look and keep 2m away.   

BTW, our big Tesco (Budaors) has slimmed down and is nowhere near the size it was when it opened.  It's one of the only places that sells proper British tea.  No need to go there except for that.

Mail order is quite good within the EU and it's also covered by the EU distance selling regulations.  We buy stuff on Amazon DE sometimes but even that's becoming marginal now unless it's something really difficult to get here like technical gear.  Trouble is here is the VAT is too high and being a small place, choices are relatively limited.   

I wish we could find out how to recycle clothing.  We've quite a lot of that to dispose of.   In the UK, we'd normally give it to charity shops (Goodwill type places) but we don't see that system exists here where we could drop stuff off at.  We have lots of stuff that's too good to dump in the trash.   Never heard of anyone running Freecycle operations that actually operate here. Maybe not even allowed due to COVID.

On the tea subject, my wife drinks a lot and we are in constant research, what my wife (I do not drink tea myself ) likes is Mr. Perkins Darjeeling (ALDI)

On Tesco, when I lived in London I preferred Safeway more than Tesco. In Hungary Tesco sometimes has good offers, what I really do not like is the self check-out and the generic set-up. Last time we went was 20 months ago or so.

cdw057 wrote:

On the tea subject, my wife drinks a lot and we are in constant research, what my wife (I do not drink tea myself ) likes is Mr. Perkins Darjeeling (ALDI)

Tea is a British religion.   

The tea served up here is pretty dreadful. 

All those fruit based concoctions are astonishingly bad.  And calling tea "black tea",  and lemon too, what is wrong with people!  For good measure, never  tell a British person that they would enjoy Lipton's tea.  That's all fake hype.  No-one (ever) drinks Lipton's tea in the UK.  I am not sure it's even sold there.   One can never find real tea in Aldi either.

I'm talking about proper strong tea - PG Tips, Yorkshire or worst case Tetley's, served in as a big steaming mug with milk aka builder's tea.  Even better poured out of a properly warmed tea pot.   Milk second.  Sugar? Nope not needed, good enough as it is.

Darjeeling is a bit light and perfumed.  Far too delicate for many. I prefer English Breakfast myself.  Assam and Kenyan are all good too.  Maybe orange pico at a push.

I only like Rum and Tea 

cdw057 wrote:

On Tesco, when I lived in London I preferred Safeway more than Tesco. In Hungary Tesco sometimes has good offers, what I really do not like is the self check-out and the generic set-up. Last time we went was 20 months ago or so.

Self-service is the way it's going.  Cut out the staff cost.

I agree it's annoying as it means one person (you) working on the process instead of two (you and cashier) but an offset is slower throughput.

If you haven't been in a UK Tesco, it's  often all Scan While You Shop so you take the scanner with you and do it yourself when you are shopping.  The items are transferred at the end from handset to till.  They control it by spot checks and probably profile on the Clubcard you use to get the handset.

It'll get to the point where they scan your face and charge your card - they do that now in the USA.  Holding up a tin of beans in the aisle will get it scanned against your face.  You won't even need to scan it yourself.  They'll know anyway.  Then you can just walk out with the stuff.

They'll also know if you've been COVID19 innoculated by facial recognition.

Quite a bit of big brother there.

SimCityAT wrote:

I only like Rum and Tea 

Which one first?

fluffy2560 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

I only like Rum and Tea 

Which one first?

Not really, I can't stand Tea, but it is popular here.

SimCityAT wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

I only like Rum and Tea 

Which one first?

Not really, I can't stand Tea, but it is popular here.

I was thinking which one do you put in the cup first. 

To me, for tea, it's academic if the milk goes in first or second.

As for popularity, I think you meant "Tea" with quotes.

I'm slightly starting to freak out.
Have to get my PCR test Friday pre surgery.
At least it's included with my Taj card as the hospital needs it to happen.
I swore I would never let anyone stick that thing up my nose...
I was doing a home remedy for my eyes of almond water with honey and black pepper but I don't think I want to wait years to see any results.
Almonds aren't cheap here probably cheaper in the long run to just get surgery and be done with it.
I will need glasses later on...Not cool.
I personally never liked main stream grocery stores in the US like Safeway or Smiths, vons.
I always shpped at the Asian markets .the Mexican market, Trader Joes or Sprouts, a cheaper smaller version of Whole foods.
Shopped at a German owned big grocery who had some "rare" items but last visit they were gone and a main stream store took over the property.
In S.Ca. they had a huge store called Jns that was international, we have a large international store in Vegas which is about 75% Asian fods but they actually had Hungary paprika and noodles, a few bottles of pickles and such from Hungary and prices were reasonable, not much more then US brands in normal shops. There was a new huge Asian store called seafod city that even fried your fresh fish right there to go. Lots of Hawaiian foods sold in the food court.You;d almost think you were in Hawaii until you walked outside and saw the desert sand.
My sister gets a PCR test every week for her job. I couldn't do that at all.
Tea and rum is nice but Hungarians drink tea with wine or palinka.

I have had a few free tests here. Negative each time. Not surprising really when you are on lockdown and you can't do much else. Our town is pretty good in the shops. We keep a 2 metre distance and we wear masks. So used to it now, I think it will be the norm for a while.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I'm slightly starting to freak out.
Have to get my PCR test Friday pre surgery.
At least it's included with my Taj card as the hospital needs it to happen.
I swore I would never let anyone stick that thing up my nose......

...There was a new huge Asian store called Seafood city that even fried your fresh fish right there to go. Lots of Hawaiian foods sold in the food court.You;d almost think you were in Hawaii until you walked outside and saw the desert sand.
My sister gets a PCR test every week for her job. I couldn't do that at all.
Tea and rum is nice but Hungarians drink tea with wine or palinka.

PCR test is the only exhaustive test.  Some of the others are not acceptable for travel.  It seems perfectly understandable that you'd need to be COVID free if in a room with a bunch of medics.

If only we had a huge Asian store near us.   I really like that sort of thing.   I mean really like!

Duna Panda is OK but not the best one I've ever been to and it's awkward to get to.  Long way to go for Thai sauces.    That one in town near the big market is OK but is quite pricey.

Strangely I was out with the dog again and on our travels I noticed even more Asian old folk hanging around the area just "sitting out on their housing wall".   Couple of weeks ago, I came across about 10 of them having a picnic in the forest.  They had a log fire going. 

I am wondering if their kids are working and living here and they've brought them in from Asia to be safer and cared for here.   I'm intrigued to know why they've singled out our village.  Lovely to see them of course, just curious why the sudden upswing suddenly.

Interesting little story (click here) on the movie Contagion and how it related to the vaccine rollout in the UK.   

Amazing really that it influenced the model.  Great movie.  And scarily realistic considering  where we are now.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Interesting little story (click here) on the movie Contagion and how it related to the vaccine rollout in the UK.   

Amazing really that it influenced the model.  Great movie.  And scarily realistic considering  where we are now.

Yes, it is called, Predictive Programing.
Lies in the news and truth in the movies.
Waiting for ET to land.
My deceased sister always thought outside the box, wish to death I could dig into her crazy mind now.
She never got too serious with conversations becuase she was always a mile over everyone's head and didn't want to turn people off. I mentioned she was really bright in an odd way, was tested to have an I.Q. of over 145 and never fit in anywhere in the main stream of life.She always hung with the odd balls because they didn't dig too deeply.
She once told me when we were small that the world was flat and we all lived under a glass dome, no, she wasn't a Bible thumper just thought deeply about the odd subjects.
She was one of the only people I ever knew who actually understood all the poems written by John Lennon. She would copy them down in shorthand?> Ok, that's odd.
She picked up a few books in a series at a flee market writen in Hungarian and seemed to pick up basic Hungarian overnight. She had a HU boyfriend at the time and she would speak HU with him.
I'm am now totally jealous! Wish my mind was that sharp.of course she dropped me on my head when I was an infant, never told mom .
I've only known one other person wh picked up HU so quickly and without an accent. My husband's HU bosss wife. She also had an I>Q> off the charts, Fly an airplane before she could drive a car.
Sorry, not sure what that has to do with C-19 but it brings me back to the media , thinking outside the box and predictive programming.
My sis was also the first person back in the 1960's to tell me they had secret messages on tv, now we know it's true. Saw a documentary about the simplest message pumped out in the US every evening on the tv just before the tv signal was off for the night. The US flag was waving and the national anthem was playing. Messages was something about gov. is god, I mean good,be a good citizen and other mind control messages.
Wonder what messages about C-19 they are sending through the air waves now?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Interesting little story (click here) on the movie Contagion and how it related to the vaccine rollout in the UK.   

Amazing really that it influenced the model.  Great movie.  And scarily realistic considering  where we are now.

Yes, it is called, Predictive Programing.
Lies in the news and truth in the movies.
Waiting for ET to land.
My deceased sister always thought outside the box, wish to death I could dig into her crazy mind now.
She never got too serious with conversations becuase she was always a mile over everyone's head and didn't want to turn people off. I mentioned she was really bright in an odd way, was tested to have an I.Q. of over 145 and never fit in anywhere in the main stream of life.She always hung with the odd balls because they didn't dig too deeply.
...
My sis was also the first person back in the 1960's to tell me they had secret messages on tv, now we know it's true. Saw a documentary about the simplest message pumped out in the US every evening on the tv just before the tv signal was off for the night. The US flag was waving and the national anthem was playing. Messages was something about gov. is god, I mean good,be a good citizen and other mind control messages.
Wonder what messages about C-19 they are sending through the air waves now?

Your sister sounds like a very interesting person.  A bit eccentric but nothing wrong with a bit of eccentricity.  I'm encouraging my kids to think out of the box and it's working with one for sure but not all of them.   My No. 3 sprog is definitely showing some interesting views of the world and shows some of it through art.  A mind that works differently to others.   

Definitely the whole adding up to more than the sum of the parts.

They used to experiment with subliminal advertising in cinemas in the US.  Maybe they still do.  In my own country, it was banned for years.  They've done lots of experiments and it doesn't work. 

Those secret messages remind of the John Carpenter movie They Live.   

I thought Roddy Piper (ex-wrestler) did a reasonable job in that movie.  Shame really he passed so quickly as I think he could have had a much longer career in the movies.  I mean look at The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) - another ex-wrestler.  Really been a success.

Had my PCR test this morning, not bad but it does burn.
They also swipe your throat.
The 2 young techs doing the test were nice. The young lady grabbed my hand even though I could of toughed it out on my own.
That was sweet of her and the young man doing the testing was very nice too.
Lab work is all great from what we can read although my sugar levels are a tiny bit too high, my weakness, sugary things.
The young tech told me they get tested every day. No way, not with that sort of burn. not like a nice burn from doing something else up the nose!
Sorry, had a flashback to the 80's!

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
Lab work is all great from what we can read although my sugar levels are a tiny bit too high, my weakness, sugary things.
The young tech told me they get tested every day. No way, not with that sort of burn. not like a nice burn from doing something else up the nose!
Sorry, had a flashback to the 80's!

Oh dear, don't like the sound of that tiny bit too high.

It's all about numbers.  There's no such thing a "little bit high" with blood glucose (BG). It's like a feedback loop - increasing BG levels should be counteracted by insulin released by your pancreas to try and keep it around 5.5 mmol/L. 

If your BG levels are over about 7'ish mmol/L (US: 126 mg/dL) then you're on the edge of diabetes. If the numbers are over 10 mmol/L, then you should see your doctor to check it out.   Anything over about 20 mmol/L, it's a hospital job.   

I've got type 2 diabetes and I measure my BG levels all the time and it drives me bonkers.  I'm lucky if mine is below 10.  It's a horrible nagging disease.  I know when it's high as I fall asleep so I have to keep active all the time.  It's a PITA to have it.  Become a way of life managing it and trying to manage a low-carb intake.   

To keep on topic, diabetes and hypertension are big risk factors in COVID19.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
Lab work is all great from what we can read although my sugar levels are a tiny bit too high, my weakness, sugary things.
The young tech told me they get tested every day. No way, not with that sort of burn. not like a nice burn from doing something else up the nose!
Sorry, had a flashback to the 80's!

Oh dear, don't like the sound of that tiny bit too high.

It's all about numbers.  There's no such thing a "little bit high" with blood glucose (BG). It's like a feedback loop - increasing BG levels should be counteracted by insulin released by your pancreas to try and keep it around 5.5 mmol/L. 

If your BG levels are over about 7'ish mmol/L (US: 126 mg/dL) then you're on the edge of diabetes. If the numbers are over 10 mmol/L, then you should see your doctor to check it out.   Anything over about 20 mmol/L, it's a hospital job.   

I've got type 2 diabetes and I measure my BG levels all the time and it drives me bonkers.  I'm lucky if mine is below 10.  It's a horrible.  I know when it's high as I fall asleep so I have to keep active all the time.  It's a PITA to have it.  Become a way of life managing it and trying to manage a low-carb intake.   

To keep on topic, diabetes and hypertension are big risk factors in COVID19.

My blood sugar should be 5.5 and it's 5.9, just need to back off with my sweets for awhile.
i can tell when I've had too much sugar, just feel lousy and bloated.
I saw a video last night about how they are trying to recruit people into getting their C-19 jab in Washington D. C.
There is a medical  marijuana dispensary lobby who has it covered. You get your jab and when you walk outside they will give you a bag of pot as a reward! No kidding, it is called, "Joints for Jabs"! Can't make this stuff up!

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

...
My blood sugar should be 5.5 and it's 5.9, just need to back off with my sweets for awhile.
i can tell when I've had too much sugar, just feel lousy and bloated.
I saw a video last night about how they are trying to recruit people into getting their C-19 jab in Washington D. C.
There is a medical  marijuana dispensary lobby who has it covered. You get your jab and when you walk outside they will give you a bag of pot as a reward! No kidding, it is called, "Joints for Jabs"! Can't make this stuff up!

Oh, 5.5 and 5.9 is nothing.  You're fine if it doesn't go above 6.5 or so.  Believe me, hospital and insulin is when you're 20+.  Very serious - blood turns to acid.  Nasty and an emergency.

Sounds good to get free weed if people live in DC - people there will want to get away from that bonkers Marjorie Taylor Greene.  What a loon!

They are recruiting places for vaccination in the UK and I believe a local Sikh temple has volunteered and is proving very popular and is staffed by local doctors.  Apparently only one in the world where a temple is being used in that way.  People from that community are in general less trusting of the vaccine but will go along with it if the temple is promoting it.  Interesting way of delivering it.  UK is over 10M vaccinated.   Amazing achievement.

We are going to get vaxed only when they drag us in or it is needed to fly somewhere.
I'm good with waiting it out and seeing how it all turns out after a few months with those who have gotten stabbed.
Maybe if Hungary was handing out bags of weed, I might think about jumping the line! No just kidding.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

We are going to get vaxed only when they drag us in or it is needed to fly somewhere.
I'm good with waiting it out and seeing how it all turns out after a few months with those who have gotten stabbed.
Maybe if Hungary was handing out bags of weed, I might think about jumping the line! No just kidding.

For 2021, it's looking like travel only with a COVID19 vaccination passport or having to suffer quarantine.  What I am not seeing is a universally accepted vaccine passport.  Looks like individual countries are doing their own thing.  I'd have thought  ICAO, IATA and WHO would be on the job together.

You must have heard that it's more or less gone legit and mainstream on ganja now.  I don't mind saying that I've had some back in my wayward youth.  It was interesting but personally didn't feel like it provided anything more than one could get elsewhere.  It's quite an interesting drug though for treating some illnesses.  Could be a good business to be in from a medicinal viewpoint and Hungary might be a good place to grow it from an agricultural production perspective.  Currently though, maybe politically difficult.

We can get tested twice a week in our town for free now. Well if you want to have our hair cut, or visit the doctor etc... we have to show a negative test. I see in the Worcestershire, UK. They want to do mass testing because of a spike of cases. While back in Austria, Austrian Health Ministry evaluates possibility of using Sputnik V vaccine.

SimCityAT wrote:

We can get tested twice a week in our town for free now. Well if you want to have our hair cut, or visit the doctor etc... we have to show a negative test. I see in the Worcestershire, UK. They want to do mass testing because of a spike of cases. While back in Austria, Austrian Health Ministry evaluates possibility of using Sputnik V vaccine.

Free is the only way to make it work.   Or the vaccinations. Not so sure about having a COVID test for seeing the Docs.  Maybe online or video consultations would work better.  UK obviously does that.  I suppose for 80% of the time, an online consultation with video might be enough.  One way of doing it.

The Sputnik V vaccine story surprised me because it's the Russian news service TASS.  I remember it as the propaganda vehicle for the USSR.  I didn't know it was still going.   If you read the other stories, they definitely have a pro-Russian slant.  Maybe Austria mentioned it in passing as I cannot see them seriously overruling the EU deliveries.  There's resistance here but don't know about Austria.

UK races ahead while much of Europe awaits first doses.   UK media also reported the start of a drop in hospitalisations. Rate of vaccinations is 1000 a minute. 

And also:

For Hungary it's the fourth vaccine that has arrived after the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Sputnik V formulations.

According to the government, it will be enough to vaccinate 20,000 people.

"The European Union reserved 300 million doses of this vaccine, and from this more than six million will arrive in Hungary in installments, on a weekly basis," said Antal Feller, Hungaropharma Chief Executive.


Such a slow start at 20,000 but a start anyway.   Mrs Fluffy says 250K people so far vaccinated with Russian and Chinese versions but is dismayed to see her "online" estimate is vaccination in August.  So the economic pain will continue here way into the summer and Balaton time.

The vaccine seems popular with elderly Hungarians...
https://www.reddit.com/r/hungary/commen … 337;seket/

Vicces1 wrote:

The vaccine seems popular with elderly Hungarians...
https://www.reddit.com/r/hungary/commen … 337;seket/

But which vaccine? 

Can only be Russian or Chinese in the main.

Latest e-mail from Kormányzati Tájékoztatási Központ:

More than 300,000 people have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus in Hungary. In addition to our oldest compatriots, citizens under the age of 60 who are particularly at risk of the virus due to their chronic illness can now be vaccinated.

The campaign-like vaccination of health workers has ended. Vaccination of people living in nursing homes is ongoing. Those who live in a nursing home but have not used the vaccination option so far can indicate their intention to the management of the institution. Nearly 40,000 of the oldest citizens living in their own homes have received the vaccine at hospital vaccines and GPs in recent days.

An important step forward is that vaccinations are already taking place with four different types of vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik, AstraZeneca). Only vaccines that are safe and effective and approved by the Hungarian pharmaceutical authorities may be used.

More shipments will arrive in the coming days, so the vaccination program will be faster and faster.

All vaccines are better than the virus, so we encourage everyone to take the opportunity to get vaccinated.

Sincerely:
Coronavirus Information Centre

Latest vaccine HU info from UK FCDO (slightly redacted):

The Hungarian authorities have asked people to register their interest in receiving a vaccine on the vakcinainfo.gov.hu (in Hungarian) website. Once registered, the authorities will invite people for vaccination based on the order of priority determined by the national vaccination programme.

You will need your health insurance number (TAJ number) to register on vakcinainfo.gov.hu. If you do not have a TAJ number,  then register for one (entitlement varies).

If you are unable to register for a TAJ number for any reason, the Hungarian authorities have confirmed that all people resident in Hungary will be eligible for vaccination.

Those without a TAJ number will become entitled to vaccination once the population group they belong to (e.g. on the basis of age or primary disease) becomes eligible for vaccination AND the individuals of the group that hold a TAJ number have already been vaccinated.

The authorities have not yet confirmed the process for registering for vaccination without a TAJ number.

Comment:  obviously Brexit challenged people with underlying conditions in the process of obtaining a TAJ number will not have any priority according to this information.  As usual, the FCDO gives half information and the HU government is murky too.  Apparently footballers arrival in HU are not restricted or quarantined - no link on that yet.

https://apnews.com/article/world-news-p … 5730007769

Personally, I do not trust the Russian or Chinese vaccines. The HU site does not mention which vaccine you will receive, but I was told when your number comes up when you register, that you will be given a choice. If for example, the Chinese vaccine is the only one available when your number comes up, you can decline it, but then you go back into the line for whenever the next type of vaccine will be available. Don't like that one? Again, back of the line...

www.mail.com/int/news/europe/10548240-c … deliv.html