Turkey Launches Homemade COVID-19 Vaccine, President Erdoan: We Are Happy To Share Turkovac

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched production of the Turkovac vaccine. (Source: Directorate of Communications Presidency of The Republic of Turkiye)

JAKARTA - Turkey began administering its domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, Turkovac, in hospitals across the country on Thursday, amid a rapid spike in infections due to the Omicron variant.

Previously, Turkey had administered more than 130 million doses of the vaccine using injections developed by China's Sinovac and by Pfizer/BioNTech. In addition, Turkey has also started giving booster injections.

Turkovac received an emergency use authorization from Turkish authorities last week, after its launch was delayed by months.

Daily coronavirus cases in Turkey jumped past 30,000 this week for the first time since October. New infections jumped 30 percent on Monday and jumped further above 36.000 on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since April 29.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has urged residents to get their booster shots.

Koca met with the country's coronavirus science board on Wednesday to discuss the launch of Turkovac and the rise in infections after receiving a booster shot with the domestic vaccine, but said no new restrictions were being considered for now.

"The more rapid spread of the Omicron variant did not cause a size change. The importance of personal action against this more rapidly spreading variant has increased significantly," Koca said in a statement after a science board meeting.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched production of the Turkovac vaccine. (Source: Directorate of Communications Presidency of The Republic of Turkiye)

"Our domestic vaccine Turkovac will start being administered in our city hospitals starting (Thursday). It is possible to receive a booster shot with our domestic vaccine. No matter what type of vaccine you received previously, you can get your booster vaccine with Turkovac," he explained.

Previously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly said his government would make Turkovac available globally, but Ankara has not released detailed information on the vaccine's efficacy level or results from clinical trials.

"With the production of Turkovac, we will be happy to share our vaccine with all mankind. I congratulate everyone who has contributed to the development and production of our vaccine," President Erdogan said at the launch of the initial production of the Turkovac vaccine, citing the website of the Directorate of Communications Presidency of The Republic of Turkiye.

"We will offer our citizens TURKOVAC as a third option along with Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines. I know some of our citizens, despite all the risks, are waiting for our own product to be vaccinated. I ask these residents to make an appointment as soon as possible and get their Turkovac shot," he said