Turkey to receive first shipment of Chinese vaccine before new year: Erdoğan

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 28 Turkey would receive the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines
developed by China's Sinovac this week.

Turkey has agreed to buy 50 million doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac and had expected delivery by Dec. 11, but the shipment has faced delays.

Last week, Turkish researchers said the shot was 91.25% effective based on an interim analysis. However, while Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said last week "we are now certain the vaccine is effective and safe", the trial data, based on 29 infections, was seen as too limited for final approvals.
Erdoğan told a press conference Turkey had worked on eight different vaccines, and that one of these studies had started the final phase. "We expect to receive the first shipment of vaccines we bought from China before the new year," he said.

Sinovac is seeking to consolidate data from global trials that include Indonesia, Chile, Turkey and Brazil. Brazil has
reported the vaccine's efficacy at between 50% and 90%.

 

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