Professor Alper Şener, member of the Ministry of Health Coronavirus Scientific Committee, stated that the Phase 3 studies of the Turkovac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Turkey were nearing completion as it searched for “1,000 heroes” as volunteers.
Şener who is also a member of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Izmir Katip Çelebi University’s (IKÇÜ) Faculty of Medicine, noted that vaccine development studies for COVID-19 in Turkey had started in the first days of the pandemic.
He said that the Turkovac vaccine, developed in cooperation with the Presidency of Turkish Health Institutes (TÜSEB) and Kayseri Erciyes University, gave positive results in such a short time as in one year.
“When we look at the Turkish health history, this is a revolution in real terms, because we have a domestic vaccine that has successfully completed its Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies in a short amount of time and has reached Phase 3,” Şener told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Explaining that there was no problem in the supply and administration of vaccines in Turkey, Şener expressed that booster doses should not be neglected considering the number of cases and seasonal conditions.
Şener noted that the introduction of the domestic vaccine would also have psychological effects.
“(Some) 3,000 people have been planned for the Phase 3 period of Turkovac in our country. About two-thirds of this has been completed so far. Our volunteer citizens show interest in hospitals where vaccination studies are carried out to complete the remaining part.
“Therefore, we now need the last 1,000 heroes to finish the Phase 3 work of Turkovac and make it widely used. Our volunteers will actually go down in history by completing the Phase 3 work carried out by the Ministry of Health. We invite all our citizens to act selflessly in this regard,” he added.
