"Next week we will inoculate volunteers with a Turkish-developed COVID-19 vaccine," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a live press conference late Wednesday.
"This is the last phase in its development as it has entered the human trials phase," he added.
Koca also noted the studies currently being carried out to determine which vaccines can be mixed and matched if scientific research proves that a third dose is necessary.
Koca had earlier said that they planned to lower the eligibility age for vaccination to 20 by the end of June, though it seems a difficult goal. But most experts say the pandemic may recede in the autumn, with an intense inoculation drive throughout the summer. If the goal of vaccinating nearly 70% of the population can be achieved, the government plans to remove the mandatory mask rule outdoors in the autumn, according to media reports.
Before his announcement Wednesday, Koca said vaccinations for those aged 45 and up would start Thursday before the country begins vaccinating citizens aged 40 and above the following Monday, speeding up the vaccination drive launched in January. Despite the accelerated inoculation campaign, vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaxxers remain a problem for Turkey in its fight against the coronavirus, making the country consider drastic measures.
The government expanded the inoculation drive, including teachers, whose appointments for vaccinations started on Monday. On Tuesday, Koca announced that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, previously administered by public and private hospitals only, can now be administered at neighborhood clinics known as “Sağlık Ocağı.” Family physicians working there would be authorized to administer the jabs. It is unclear though whether the clinics’ vaccination storage capacity will allow for mass inoculation with the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, which spoils faster than CoronaVac if not stored in proper temperatures.
Authorities had earlier assured that no Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would go to waste, thanks to timely planning, with shots administered to others when people with appointments fail to show up.
Turkey has also pondered injecting people with a third dose of the vaccine, in the six-month period after the second dose. Experts say that Experts say a different vaccine than whatever people were injected with for their first and second doses can be used for that purpose. Thus, the country could have more access to vaccines, something vital amid the ongoing “vaccine wars” between countries. Professor Ismail Balık, who heads the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine of Ankara University, says a locally made vaccine currently in the trial phase, can be used as a third dose. Balık told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Tuesday that the vaccine developed by Erciyes University was an “inactive vaccine,” using the same technology as CoronaVac and would be fit for people injected with the Chinese vaccine.
Balık said the third dose can be injected at a later date, up to two years, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He also pointed to the claims that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may not require a third dose, though it has not been scientifically proven yet.
