Two more swine flu deaths in Hungary

The latest deaths were a 55-year-old Hungarian man and a 73-year-old Romanian woman, health authorities said. Both died in hospital.

Two more people died of swine flu in Hungary, a health ministry spokeswoman announced on Friday, bringing the total number of fatalities to seven.

The latest deaths were a 55-year-old Hungarian man and a 73-year-old Romanian woman, health authorities said. Both died in hospital, they added.

Hungary saw its first swine-flu-related death in July, followed by another one in September, two in October and one earlier this month.

The government launched a voluntary vaccination campaign in October, but while Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai received an inoculation on Tuesday, the population has been reluctant to follow his example.

So far, about six percent of the population has received the A(H1N1) vaccine, even though the government recently announced that those under the age of 18 could be inoculated for free.

This has started to change following a jump in swine flu infections in neighbouring Austria and Ukraine.

The authorities said they expected 40 percent of Hungarians to be vaccinated by the end of the year, while Health Minister Tamas Szekely said the goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the population could be reached by the end of January.

Hungary has so far produced 1.3 million doses of the vaccine, he added.