Turkey reaches 50 million Covid vaccine milestone and country’s own jab’s in clinical trials

Turkey has administered 50 million coronavirus vaccines in its efforts to return to normality and decrease infections, deaths, and hospitalizations. Meanwhile, the country’s own shot is in phase-three clinical trials.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shared the milestone on Twitter on Thursday, saying, “Thank God, we have exceeded 50 MILLION doses of the vaccine, which is our most effective weapon in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic.”

As of July 1, more than 35 million people had received their first dose, with 15,188,756 having received their second, which equates to 42.3% of the country having been vaccinated with one dose and 18.4% fully vaccinated with two. On June 24, Turkey passed the 30-million mark of people receiving their first doses.

In a follow-up Tweet, Erdogan announced Turkey’s next move in combating coronavirus: the soon-to-be rolled-out Turkovac. Thanks to the home-produced vaccine, Erdogan pledged that “we will carry Turkey to a healthier future.”

Turkovac is a two-dose coronavirus vaccine that entered the third phase of its trial on June 22, with 40,800 participants in the 18 to 55 age bracket taking part.

If this phase proves successful, the vaccine will join the list of the three other approved vaccines for use in Turkey, alongside Russia’s Sputnik V, China’s Sinovac, and Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccines.

At the end of April, Turkey signed a deal for 50 million doses of Sputnik V. A month later, it signed a similar deal for 50 million doses of Sinovac, with the Chinese manufacturer later granting it the rights to produce the vaccine domestically. Turkey also signed a deal with BioNtech to receive 120 million doses of Pfizer’s jab in May.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Turkey has reported 5,420,156 cases and nearly 50,000 deaths, according to World Health Organization data.

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