Ankara: An experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac is 91.25% effective, a Turkish health official said on Thursday.
Dr Serhat Unal, an infectious disease expert serving on Turkey’s medical board, said the finding was based on early results of late-stage trials in the country and added the vaccine is safe.
CoronaVac is a so-called inactivated vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech.
Unal announced the initial results Thursday following randomized trials involving 7,371 volunteers and said the vaccine was safe.
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Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a news conference the results were the first to be announced for CoronaVac.
Koca said the first shipment of three million doses of CoronaVac would be shipped to Turkey Sunday night and arrive Monday.
The efficacy rate announced by Ankara could not be immediately verified independently.
Turkey has signed a deal for 50 million doses of the vaccine.
The health minister also said an agreement for Pfizer BioNTech's vaccine was close.
He added the deal could see Turkey get 4.5 million doses of the shot by the end March and would have the option buy up to 30 million doses.
AP
