Turkey's domestic COVID-19 vaccine receives emergency use authorization

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said that Turkey's domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac has been approved for emergency use.

Reuters

Turkey's domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, Turkovac, has received emergency use authorization by Turkish authorities and will be open to use from next weekend, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Dec. 22. 

Turkey began developing Turkovac this year, but the launch date for the vaccine has been beset by delays. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkey would make the shot available globally.

Turkey has already administered more than 125 million doses of vaccines using shots developed by China's Sinovac and by Pfizer/BioNTech, with more than 51 million having received two doses of the vaccines. It has also begun administering boosters shots.

Koca was speaking at the vaccine's manufacturing facility in the southeastern province of Urfa.

Turkey's daily infection numbers have hovered around 20,000, while the daily death toll remains near 200.

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Topics Turkovac Turkey Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca Turkish government Coronavirus