Phase 2 trial for local vaccine set for December 25

ANKARA

The phase two trials of the Turkish-made COVID-19 vaccine will begin on Dec. 25, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced.

“In parallel with the world, 16 different vaccine studies are carried out in our country. One of them has completed the pre-clinical period and started human trials. Phase two study will begin on Dec. 25,” Koca told lawmakers during the 2021 budget debate in parliament on Dec. 12.

Koca said the vaccine’s production for phase two started on Dec. 9.

“Apart from our vaccination studies, we are also to access safe and efficient vaccines made elsewhere in the world,” he said.

“I hope we will make our domestic COVID-19 vaccine by April,” he said.

The ERUCOV-VAC vaccine is being developed at the Erciyes University in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri with support from Turkey’s Institutes of Health Administration (TÜSEB).

Turkey is planning to roll out its massive vaccination program with the injections being developed by China at the end of this year. The jabs will be administered to some 60 million people, except for pregnant women and those under the age of 18 and who have recovered from the virus within the past six months.

The vaccination will not be mandatory.

Some 52.4 percent of the public said they would get vaccinated, a survey by polling company Optimar found.

A little more than 39 percent of the participants in the survey said they were not willing to take part in the vaccination since they do not know the long-term effects of the injection, while another 8.4 percent outright rejected the COVID-19 jab because they are against any kind of vaccine.

Some 85 percent of the public think COVID-19 poses a serious threat, but only 13.4 percent think otherwise, the survey also found.