Box containing filters of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg
Turkey signed an agreement with partner Pfizer Inc. BioNTech SE for 4.5 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine, with an option to increase to 30 million.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Friday that initial doses of 550,000 will arrive by the end of the year or early January, state news agency Anadolu said.
Turkey performed its first Covid-19 vaccine treatment Sinovac Biotech Limited for 50 million doses, claims to have received the safest Chinese vaccine because it is made by conventional methods. But the CoronaVac needs to be managed in two ways, which means that the amount signed by Turkey will only be enough for 25 million of its citizens out of a population of more than 83 million people.
Most vaccines either contain inactivated pieces of a virus or proteins from a virus made through genetic engineering. When ingested into the body, they stimulate a permanent immune response similar to that of a trapped and overweight person.
In contrast, the mRNA technology used by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech is in addition to Moderna Inc. dependent on the body’s own cells to produce viral proteins. Once absorbed into the body, the RNA slips into human cells and causes them to make virus-like proteins, in this case the protein “spike” on surface of the coronavirus.