As the omicron variant gained a foothold across the country, Turkey witnessed another peak in the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, it reported the highest number of cases in one day since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, at 82,180. It also reported 174 deaths. In late December, daily cases stood at about 20,000, before a surge in infections due to the omicron variant.
"Our health workers are at their posts. If it is time for your booster dose, do not yield to tolerable difficulties posed by the weather conditions," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
The country counts on expanding its vaccination program which has exceeded 140 million doses since January 2021. It offers China's CoronaVac, an inactive vaccine, a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech and recently started offering its locally-made Turkovac in a limited capacity.
On Thursday, authorities announced that human trials had commenced for its adenovirus vaccine. They hope the new vaccine, along with Turkovac, will boost vaccination efforts occasionally hampered by vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaxxers.
Scientists behind the adenovirus vaccine were joined by professor Hasan Mandal, head of Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) which supports vaccine development efforts across the country, on Thursday for launch of Phase I trials for the jab. The vaccine is being developed by Institute of Cancer Research of Ankara University in the Turkish capital.
Adenovirus vaccine is among the seven vaccine candidates included in TÜBITAK's COVID-19 Platform, established to develop vaccines and drugs against coronavirus.
"Three vaccines reached clinical process and this is the last of them," Mandal told reporters at Ankara City Hospital where the trials have been launched. The development of the vaccine began 16 months ago.
Mandal said the new vaccine's features include antigens which serve as immunostimulants and unlike others can be taken orally or nasally. He said the vaccine also was "easiest to mass produce" compared to others.
"This vaccine and others will contribute to Turkey's efforts to become a country that is developing its own vaccines both for itself and for the entire humanity, instead of relying on imports," he added.
Human trials started with 36 volunteers. Professor Hakan Akbulut, head of the Institute, said they expected the vaccine to be effective against all variants of coronavirus, including the omicron variant.
"It is designed to be at least six-fold efficient than other vaccines and we expect it to provide a long-term immunity. In other words, its protection against virus will last for about two years, so a new dose will not be required every three or four months," he added.
On its nasal and oral intake, Akbulut said it was important as the body's defense mechanism against the virus is first activated in these areas.
"Immunoglobulin A antibody in saliva and mucus prevents the virus from multiplying in the mouth and nose and hence, the infection. Nasal or oral vaccine also has the advantage of preventing the spread of the infection to others. Currently available vaccines may reduce severity of the disease but it is still easy to infect others even if you are vaccinated. This risk does not exist in adenovirus vaccine," he said.
Turkey had recently opened up appointments for the fifth dose of the jab for the vaccinated in a bid to curb the impact of omicron. But it has not planned any blanket restrictions since the curfews, lockdowns and other measures were lifted last summer. Only masks and social distancing, hygiene rules remain mandatory while the unvaccinated are no longer required to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for access to certain venues. However, experts raise concerns that the number of cases may climb up further amid higher mobility. As a matter of fact, number of daily cases has more than tripled since last month.
