UPDATE - Turkey: 3 COVID-19 vaccines in human trial stage

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Havva Kara Aydin

ANKARA (AA) - Studies for Turkey’s seven COVID-19 vaccine candidates are progressing, with three of them in human trial stage, the country’s vice president said on Friday.

During his visit to the clinical research center, Fuat Oktay said that necessary work is being done to start mass production of the vaccine following approval by Turkey’s drug regulatory authority Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency.

He urged citizens, who do not suffer from a chronic illness and have not received any coronavirus vaccine, to volunteer for the human trials.

“The more volunteers we have, the faster we will come to a conclusion in vaccination studies.”

He went on to say trials at the Erciyes University will enter the third phase by the end of this month.

"Today, we are experiencing a situation where rich or developed countries are being prioritized in access to vaccines. This is turning into a quest for trade or a mechanism of power," he said.

“However, Turkey will show here the usual principled stance,” he added.

Vaccines will be given to all friendly and brotherly countries under the principles of equitable access to health services, not according to the level of income, he added.

Turkey's daily count of coronavirus cases reached a new high on Thursday with infections topping 55,000, according to the Health Ministry.

Since its vaccination campaign began on Jan. 14, Turkey has so far administered over 18.38 million coronavirus vaccine jabs nationwide, according to official figures.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.9 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

Over 134.1 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries more than 76.21 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.