Turkey to start human trials on 5 more vaccine candidates

ANKARA

Turkey will start human trials on five more local vaccine candidates soon and will use its own vaccine in the near future, said the health minister on Thursday.

Fahrettin Koca speaking at a press conference said that COVID-19 will not become an ordinary disease like the flu any time soon, but in 2021 it will no longer be a nightmare for health workers.

Koca said that once the vaccination program is completed, new cases will be reduced to one-fifth and there will barely be patients in critical condition.

He said that Turkey is among the fastest nations in procuring vaccine supplies with a 50-million-dose agreement with manufacturers in China.

Koca noted that this is the first pandemic in the last 100 years.

He stated that if 50 million of the population is vaccinated before autumn, as planned, the pandemic will no longer be a health crisis.

"I hope that this country will be one of the first to win this worldwide war," Koca said.