Corona dead vaccine "Turkovac": Erdogan's developers see "100 percent protection"
Created: 01/11/2022, 05:35 AM
By: Patrick Huljina
At the end of December, the "Turkovac" corona vaccine received emergency approval in Turkey.
However, experts have doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Ankara - Turkish researchers have developed their own corona vaccine: "Turkovac".
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the name of the vaccine in the middle of last year.
The vaccine has had emergency approval in Turkey since the end of December 2021 and is primarily administered as a booster.
But how effective is the corona vaccine?
Turkish health experts are skeptical.
Corona dead vaccine "Turkovac": developers speak of "one hundred percent protection"
In studies with genetically modified mice, Turkovac had shown "one hundred percent protection" - against both the alpha and delta variants of the coronavirus. Aykut Ozdarendeli from Turkey's Erciyes University told the Anadolu news agency. The university developed the vaccine in collaboration with state health institutes.
The Turkish corona vaccine, like the Chinese vaccines "Coronavac" and "BBIBP-CorV", works on the basis of inactivated viruses.
Turkovac is one of the so-called dead vaccines.
According to doctor Ates Kara, who is a member of the Turkish government's Corona Advisory Board, the Turkish vaccine should also protect against Omikron.
The new variant is currently causing the corona numbers to rise worldwide.
If Turkovac is administered as a booster vaccination, the number of antibodies increases by leaps and bounds within a very short time, said Kara according to
Tagesspiegel
.
Corona vaccine "Turkovac": Experts skeptical - "This is not a vaccine"
But Turkish experts were skeptical about the vaccine. They lack the data to justify such rapid emergency approval. "We are not very concerned about the side effects, but we do not have any data on the protective effect," Vedat Bulut told the
Diken
portal . The General Secretary of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) concluded: "This is not a vaccine, this is a liquid that is given out as a vaccine."
In a letter, the TTB criticized the fact that the data on Turkovac had not been discussed in a scientific environment.
"According to the sources we have at our disposal, it does not look like he is ready for emergency approval," said Sebnem Korur Fincanci, the president of the medical association, in an interview with
Diken
.
Since the end of December 2021, “Turkovac” has had emergency approval in Turkey and is being administered.
(Archive image) © Abdurrahman Antakyali / IMAGO
Corona vaccine "Turkovac": Government wants to donate 15 million doses to Africa
In addition to the lack of study results, the association also criticized the lack of transparency in information about manufacturers, suppliers and production costs.
The government made contradicting statements about the corona vaccines in the course of the pandemic, Fincanci explained in another interview with the daily
Sözcü.
The Turkish government has so far been unimpressed by the criticism.
Erdogan promised to donate 15 million doses of the Turkovac vaccine to Africa at a Turkey-Africa summit in Istanbul in December.
It was a shame for humanity that only six percent of the African population had received a Covid-19 vaccine, said the President of Turkey at the time.
(ph)
