Turkey administers 2nd dose in local vaccine trial

KAYSERI, Turkey

Turkey on Wednesday administered the second dose to volunteers in ongoing trials for the country's local COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ERUCOV-VAC.

The Phase-2 trials are being conducted by the Erciyes University in the central Kayseri province.

A 37-year-old volunteer Soner Akel, who was administered the second dose, said he did not feel any side effects.

The head of the university, Mustafa Calis, said they want to finalize the Phase-2 trials by mid-April.

"The Phase-2 studies of our locally developed vaccine are ongoing. Today, we administered the second dose to our volunteers," Calis said.

On Jan. 14, Turkey kicked off a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign starting with health care workers.

Since it first appeared in December 2019, the virus has claimed more than 2.6 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

More than 117.6 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries totaling over 66.6 million, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of infections.