After the vaccination of health care workers, Turkey’s Health Ministry is now turning to citizens from all walks of life for a new stage in the human trials of CoronaVac, an experimental COVID-19 vaccine from China.
The ministry announced in a written statement Friday that people between the ages of 18 and 59 who have not had the coronavirus before can apply online or by phone to the ministry to become volunteers in the Phase 3 trial of the vaccine.
CoronaVac was the first experimental vaccine brought for trial to Turkey when a group of health care workers stepped up to the plate to be inoculated in September. A monitoring process of the impact of the vaccine is still underway at 25 centers in 12 cities across the country where volunteers are vaccinated. So far, 726 health care workers have been inoculated and received 1,237 doses of the vaccine in total.
The Health Ministry’s decision to include ordinary citizens in the trial followed studies that indicated the safety of the vaccine among the first batch of volunteers. Assessment reports are being prepared for every 500 volunteers during the course of the trial.
