Turkey will begin human trials for three locally produced COVID-19 vaccines within 10 days, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Saturday.
Koca’s announcement came during a visit to pharmaceutical companies in the northwestern Tekirdağ province where he examined the laboratory where the vaccine is being developed and received information about the process.
After his tour of the premises, Koca informed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the status of the vaccine and relayed the information in a video call.
"I want to share some good news with you," Koca told Erdoğan. "You know there are currently 13 vaccines being developed in our country for COVID-19. One of them is spearheaded by our professor Aykut Özdarendeli and backed by the University of Erciyes and our ministry. That vaccine has just completed tests on animals successfully, which concluded the preclinical trials. I wanted to give you the good news that the vaccine has reached the human trial phase."
The minister explained that the animal trials included 19 animals infected with the coronavirus,10 of them given the vaccine, while nine were placed in a control group without administering the vaccine.
After two weeks, none of the animals injected with the vaccine had died, and their lungs had no traces of the virus, Koca said.
Meanwhile, four of the animals in the control group died, and the five remaining still had the virus lingering in their lungs, he added.
According to Koca, the vaccine study led by Özdarendeli was the second vaccine that successfully completed the preclinical trials and reached the human trial phase.
The third one was an inactivated vaccine, which uses the killed version of the virus that causes the disease, that is being developed by Koçak Pharma, Koca said.
Regarding production, once the vaccines are approved, Koca said the facilities he visited were well equipped to produce the necessary volume while complying with good manufacturing process (GMP) guidelines, adding that a similar production plant was ready in southeastern Adıyaman province.
After hearing the details of the vaccine developments, Erdoğan thanked everyone involved for their efforts.
"I would like to congratulate and thank everyone involved on behalf of myself and our people. I hope we can start production soon and start vaccinating our people, so we can significantly lower our patient numbers," the president said.
Rare symptoms in eyes
Meanwhile, a Turkish doctor warned that some coronavirus patients could show COVID-19 in their eyes, albeit rarely.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Tuncay Sezgin, an optometry doctor, said that such symptoms were reported in at least 1%-2% of COVID-19 patients, noting that eyes are an important transmission route for the virus.
Noting that red eyes, a condition known as conjunctivitis, had been identified in such patients, Sezgin recommended that people in occupations involving frequent and close contact with others should use protective eyewear. He said while protective eyewear would not be sufficient protection by itself, it could reduce the chances of contracting the virus via droplets coming into contact with eyes.
Warning that those suffering from COVID-19 could infect others by talking, sneezing or coughing, Sezgin said the virus could be transmitted if infected droplets reached another person's conjunctiva – the membrane covering the inside of the eyelids and white part of the eyes.
"Protective glasses are preferable to prevent contamination via our eyes," he added.
Sezgin also said changing contact lenses every day, rather than monthly, was another way to reduce contamination risks through the eyes.
Despite the rarity of the condition's relation to coronavirus, he urged people who exhibit sudden redness, watering or stinging in their eyes to see a doctor.
Daily patients
According to the Health Ministry on Saturday, Turkey recorded 1,502 new COVID-19 patients and 59 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The number of total cases has reached 323,014 with 283,868 total recoveries, the ministry’s data showed.
With the 59 new fatalities, the death toll from the virus reached 8,384.
A total of 103,219 more coronavirus tests were conducted over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to over 10.7 million.
The figures also showed that the number of patients in critical condition dropped to 1,470 with 6.4% suffering from pneumonia.
After going through the worst of the outbreak and managing to lower the number of daily cases below 1,000, Turkey has been witnessing a resurgence in new infections.
In an effort to halt the steadily rising infection rates, the government introduced several measures. It made wearing masks outside mandatory across all provinces and began running mass transit at a reduced capacity.
The Education Ministry also scrapped its plans to fully reopen schools, opting for a partial opening with only kindergarteners and first-graders going back to the classrooms, while the rest will continue their education online.