Turkish health minister evaluates locally made vaccine

Talks are underway to increase the amount of COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered to Turkey, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said, adding that the country is also looking at alternatives to secure injections.

Turkey has already signed a deal to buy at least 50 million doses of an experimental vaccine being developed by China's Sinovac.

Koca previously said that the country was also in touch to procure the coronavirus jab from Pzifer/BioNTech.

Officials, on the other hand, are considering the Russian vaccine as another potential option if it proves safe.

"I believe the Chinese vaccine will be delivered to Turkey in the next couple of days. The first batch of the injection will comprise 3 million doses," the minister told daily Hürriyet.

He added that the vaccination drive is likely to start at the end of December or in the first week of January 2021.

One expert recently estimated that up to 60 million and 65 million people could be vaccinated by the end June 2021.

In the interview with Hürriyet, Koca also dismissed claims that Pfizer's vaccine will be administered to "elites," while the rest of the public will get the Chinese vaccine.

"Such a discrimination is out of question. People get vaccinated based on certain criteria, such as risks, age and health conditions, not based on their class," he told the daily.

The minister also refuted the speculations suggesting that the vaccine had already arrived in Turkey and the jab is being administered to people close to the government. He reiterated that the potential vaccines will not be possibly applied until local laboratories and institutions, which will examine the jabs for at least 14 days, approve them.

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