By Zehra Nur Duz
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey will provide its domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac to all humanity, the nation’s president said in a televised interview late Friday.
Speaking to news channel A Haber, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “I know some of our citizens waited for our own product to get vaccinated,” urging them to make appointments now to get their Turkovac shots.
Since early in the vaccine's development, Erdogan has vowed to make the vaccine available globally, saying it will be used to benefit all humanity.
After months of development and tests, on Wednesday Turkey announced that the homegrown COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac had been approved for emergency use.
"As of today, we have become one of the nine countries producing a COVID-19 vaccine," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
The vaccine will be in widespread use as of next week, Koca said.
Turkey has administered more than 128.07 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive this January, according to the latest official figures.