In his speech, Minister Koca noted that he had tried to communicate all developments as soon and clear as possible throughout the pandemic and that it was a duty.
Pointing out that there had been painful changes in all aspects of life, from habits to greeting, shopping, having meetings, and receiving education, Koca continued, "This year will go down in history in which the whole world has fought for a common cause but not yet came through. History will identify these years with the great pandemic."
"Phase-3 clinical trials of the inactive vaccine are underway"
Noting that two adenovirus-based candidate vaccines were performing human trials, Koca added, "Similarly, another candidate vaccine based on virus-like particles is also in human trial phase. Since the beginning, we have always said that we wanted to use our own vaccine. The phase-3 clinical trials of the inactive vaccine are underway."
"If all goes well, the vaccines will be shipped on Sunday night"
"Based on the considerations of the Scientific Committee, we are confident that the vaccine will be effective", said Koca and continued, "We are sure that the vaccine is safe and effective. The Chinese authorities have approved the doses to be delivered to Turkey. If all goes well, the vaccines will be shipped on Sunday night, which are already waiting at their warehouses."
"91.25% protection"
Noting that the vaccine offered 91.25% protection, Koca said, "This is the preliminary data about the vaccine. Therefore, China, and even the world will make use of this piece of data. Its protection is 91.25%. This is still an early period and this number will go up. Because we initially planned on releasing this information when we had 40 infected individuals. We are now at 29 and the trials will continue until we reach 40. It is safe to say that this number will go up."
"In the first stage, 9 million people will be vaccinated"
Offering information about the vaccination program, Koca said, "The faith and perseverance of our nation can overcome any challenge. I hope that these positive news lead to fruitful outcomes for our nation and for the humanity. Vaccination will start on Monday. The Scientific Committee has developed a 4-stage strategy. First, we will vaccinate healthcare workers. In the first stage, we will vaccinate 9 million people. In the months of January, February and March we will kick off widespread vaccination under phase 2 and 3. Because we are aware of the fact that the more people we vaccine in the shortest time possible, better results we will achieve."
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