“Turkovac has proved to be effective against the alfa and delta strains. Our work on the Omicron variant of the virus is ongoing at full speed,” said Professor Aykut Özdarendeli, the head of the Vaccine Research and Development Center at Erciyes University.
Local authorities approved inactivated Turkovac for emergency use at the end of 2021, and now, it is being administered to citizens along with the mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and the Chinese company Sinovac’s inactivated jab.
Özdarendeli recalled that work began at their center, which was established in 2013, to find a vaccine against COVID-19 as soon as the pandemic hit the world. “We were ready and prepared when the coronavirus emerged. We managed to isolate the virus in March 2020, followed by clinical tests for the vaccine candidate,” he said, noting that Phase 3 studies, which began in June 2021, are still ongoing.
Earlier this month, Özdarendeli said that studies showed three doses of Turkovac provide significant protection against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Thanks to the works that led to the development of Turkovac, a qualified force in terms of experts has started to emerge that can smoothly respond to possible pandemics in the future, he added.
