Turkey to deploy Chinese COVID vaccine as Beijing aims for clout

Sinovac becomes a front-runner in region while Ankara seeks more doses

20201217 Sinovac

Turkey has ordered 50 million doses of Sinovac vaccines to be delivered by the end of February. (Source photo by AP)

SINAN TAVSAN, Nikkei staff writer

ISTANBUL -- Turkey, one of the worst-hit countries in the Middle East by the coronavirus, is rushing to deploy vaccines as quickly as possible, and the Chinese are eager to help.

For vaccines supplied by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, Turkey, where daily new cases are hovering around 30,000, is planning to roll out inoculations as early as this month after local testing and confirming the upcoming phase III clinical trial results. The first 3 million doses of Sinovac vaccines out of a contracted 50 million are to be delivered in the coming days.

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