Turkey to join world's vaccine-developing nations: Officials

By Abdullah Yasin Guler

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will become one of the top 10 countries in the world to develop a coronavirus vaccine, according to Turkish officials in a high-level meeting on Tuesday about domestic vaccine research, chaired by Vice President Fuat Oktay.​​​​​

Measures on mass vaccine production once a manufacturer receives permission for emergency use were discussed in the meeting attended by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and officials from institutions working on domestic jabs.

Officials also discussed developments concerning an inactive vaccine developed by a team headed by medical microbiologist Aykut Ozdarendeli of Erciyes University in central Turkey, along with Phase 2 tests and the latest preparations for Phase 3 trials.

Phase 3 studies set to begin in the first week of June will be applied to a wider group of volunteers and it is expected that a vaccine will receive emergency use approval by October.