Starting next week, Turkovac, the Turkish-developed COVID-19 vaccine, will be available in all public hospitals in Turkey, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.
Koca noted that 800,000 doses of Turkovac have been distributed in Turkish hospitals so far.
The health chief reiterated that Turkish specialists are working on adapting domestic vaccinations to the omicron strain of coronavirus.
“The domestic vaccine is being tested on animals. I believe that the second dose will be administered to the animals tomorrow. We plan to complete the adaptation of Turkovac to the omicron strain by March,” the minister said.
Koca said that a peak in the incidence of coronavirus was noted in Turkey over the weekend, however, according to experts’ forecasts, the growth will decline from next week.
“The load on hospitals will also gradually decrease. By now, the hospitalization rate of patients with coronavirus has decreased by 28-30 percent, and in intensive care units by 15 percent,” the minister said.
Koca said that next Wednesday the Ministry of Health will organize a press conference at which the results of the fight against coronavirus in Turkey will be summed up and further steps of the government to prevent the spread of the dangerous infection will be announced.
The head of the Ministry of Health further recalled that doctors in Turkey have started using the drug Molnupiravir (Molnupiravir) to treat patients with coronavirus.
“Molnupiravir” entered the market and is used in the world. Prices for a drug worth more than $700 have been reduced thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Health,” the head of the Turkish Ministry of Health said.
The drug is prescribed for patients over 65 years of age, those with chronic diseases and those at risk, and it is very important that people over 65 receive it in the early stages of treatment for coronavirus, Koca explained.
