Turkey to receive 100M COVID-19 vaccine doses by May end - Health Minister

By Trend

A total of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in Turkey by the end of May, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

Speaking after a virtual meeting of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, Koca said that 1.4 million Pfizer-BioNTech jabs have arrived in Turkey so far, and the figure will reach 4.5 million by April.

He added that an optional deal for another 30 million shots from Pfizer-BioNTech has also been made.

"Turkey has started phase 1 trials of virus-like particle vaccine today-one of the most innovative vaccine candidates in the world," the minister said.

Saying that Turkey has made significant progress in developing indigenous COVID-19 vaccines, Koca shared that one candidate, developed by Turkey's Erciyes University, will enter phase 3 trials by the end of April as the last volunteer will get the second dose on April 9.

"Turkey is working on the world’s first intra-nasal COVID-19 vaccine," Koca also said.

The minister noted that the country will soon start Phase 1 trials of the intranasal vaccine, which he said was highly effective in terms of its production.

"Just a single facility will be able to produce over 250 million doses of the vaccine," Koca said.

"Turkey has administered over 14 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine," Koca added.