Turkey develops first local vaccine at international standards

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said that a Tetanus-Diphtheria vaccine was produced under completely domestic conditions at international standards.

Wednesday November 25 2020 01:19 pm

Duvar English

Turkey on Nov. 25 announced that it had completed all production processes for an adult-type tetanus-diphtheria vaccine, developed with domestic resources.

"Turkey's first vaccine at international standards is ready to use," Fahrettin Koca announced in a written statement.

Saying that the project for a local vaccine began in 2015, Koca noted that all processes, including antigen generation, had been carried out completely under domestic conditions.

He added that the necessary quality controls of the vaccine had been conducted and the vaccine was approved.

"The process focusing on local vaccine production, which we started as part of the localization policy, will continue with good news," Koca said.

Separately, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey is planning to unveil a local COVID-19 vaccine by April.

"We have made good progress on our local vaccine. We plan to bring our own vaccine in the market by April at least," he said on Nov. 25.

Turkey is closely following vaccine developments in China, Russia, the US, and Europe, the president said.

"We have already given pre-orders for some of them. We hope to give the first shots of the vaccines by end of this month," he said.

Erdoğan went on to say that the vaccine should be used for the "common good of humanity regardless of political differences or commercial incentives."

"We believe that it does not make any sense for individual countries to secure themselves before the whole world is freed from the epidemic threat," he said.