Three inactive vaccines ready for human testing, says Turkish Health Minister

ANKARA

Turkey’s health minister announced early on Jan. 6 that three inactive COVID-19 vaccine candidates are ready for human trials.

Fahrettin Koca said that 17 different COVID-19 potential vaccines were currently being developed in Turkey, out of which, “three of our candidate vaccines have applied to the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency to start testing on humans.”

“Our inactive vaccine that is in the human experiment phase is about to start Phase 2. It is expected to start Phase 3 in April,” he said.

A Virus-Like Particle (VLP) vaccine, which is unique in the world, has reached the level of production for research and application for testing on humans soon, Koca stated.

The scientific capacity of Turkey is competent enough to be able to conduct research and development activities for all vaccine types, he added.

“I believe the scientific and technical background of our country and the ambition and efforts of our scientists will bring us the best vaccines,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kenan Midilli, a member of the Health Ministry’s Science Board, answered the questions frequently asked by citizens about the COVID-19 vaccine through daily Hürriyet.

Answering a question about the irregularity and the possibility of giving priority to some people over others during the vaccination campaign, Midilli said that the priority order of the groups determined according to the risk was already certain.

Noting that the remaining 47 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in Turkey in the following days pursuant to the agreement made with China, Midilli stated that the safety tests of this vaccine were ongoing, and the results obtained in the tests would be evaluated by the authorities.

The first 3 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine ordered from China’s SinoVac Biotech HAD arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara on Dec. 30.

The analyses of the COVID-19 vaccines are still underway at the laboratories, the Health Ministry said on Jan. 5.