Turkovac: The Turkish vaccine, what do we know about It

Given the considerable government investment in the health sector, which started from about the past 20 years, the health sector was invested in each government-private hospital, which witnessed a colossal bang in terms of services and medicines, and health insurance system for both Turks and foreigners.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government was able to respond ideally to the Covid-19 pandemic, and among the services that demonstrated significant effectiveness were:

1- The system of the (E-NABIZ) and the (HES CODE) application contributed to controlling coronavirus infection cases and limiting the spread of the epidemic.

2- The number of governmental and private hospitals could accommodate a considerable number of patients and provide them with free treatment and medicines.

3- Establishment of several medical research institutes and medical centers that worked on devising a vaccine for Covid-19, Which will also be distributed free of charge to citizens and sold to neighboring countries, but at the cost of manufacturing without realizing any financial gains from it.

Professor Erhan Ak Dogan, Head of Health Institutes in Turkey, said that the country has coped well with the Covid-19 epidemic and that the preparations and investments made in the health sector over the past twenty years have paid off, both in combating the pandemic and in producing the local vaccine against it.

Ak Dogan added that Turkey considered as is one of nine countries that managed to produce a vaccine,
He also emphasized that the vital infrastructure in many divisions of life, developed and modernized in the past 20 years, has borne fruit during this pandemic.

The positive results of the durability of the Turkish economy and infrastructure were apparent through the Turkish government's dealings with the Turkish nation, by securing and paying salaries to both the employees and workers in the governmental sector, who were affected by the pandemic, and also in the private sector, the work by the Turkish government accomplished to secure monthly salaries and expenses in agreement with the private and the joint industry, through creating new laws in collaboration with government and private insurance companies.

Ak Dogan noted that thanks to Turkey's large and stable Gross domestic product (GDP), which spent more than one billion Turkish liras for citizens during the pandemic, the pandemic was controlled without leaving any adverse effects on the lives of Turkish citizens and even improving their living conditions.

Also stressed that Turkey could support its citizens and produce all medical supplies locally. Thanks to the robust infrastructure of Turkish medical laboratories, Turkey resulted in a considerable surplus. Turkey was able to help neighboring countries affected by the effects of the pandemic, such as Italy, Lebanon, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Azerbaijan, And many more.

The critical question here is the importance of the "Turkovac" vaccine in confronting the epidemic? And what is its significance about Turkey's success in producing its domestic vaccine after many years?

 Since the outbreak of the epidemic, studies have begun to produce a local vaccine; in the early days of its spread, the Presidency of Health Institutes evaluated and supported seven projects to make the local vaccine, including the vaccine project developed by Professor Aykut Ozdarandli and his team at Erciyes University, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan named Turkovac" and became the first producer of a local Turkish vaccine.

Also, he highlighted and emphasized that (Turkovac) will play a leading role in the development, production, and dissemination of other vaccines and biotechnology products that the country needs in the future.

But have the necessary clinical tests been conducted to ensure the safety of the new vaccine?

Ad Dogan stated that at the start of developing and producing any vaccine, the preclinical phase is carried out, which includes testing it on animals first. After the approval of the local authorities and the scientific research ethics committees, human experiments begin and include the first, second, and third stages.

In the first stage, a study is conducted on whether the vaccine is safe or not by trying it on dozens of volunteers. After the tests conducted by scientists and verifying the vaccine's safety, it is agreed to move to the second stage of the vaccine production stages.

In the second stage, studies are conducted on the vaccine's effectiveness on more significant numbers, including hundreds of volunteers. After the approval of local authorities and scientific research ethics committees on its effectiveness, the third stage begins in which safety and efficacy are examined together.

After proving the safety and effectiveness of the "Turkovac" vaccine, studies began in the third phase, which included the application of the vaccine to a large segment of people last June.