Erdogan claims he received three doses of COVID vaccine

Turkish opposition leaders and the general public expressed outrage on Wednesday after Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed he had received a third dose of “Coronavac,” a coronavirus vaccine made in China.

Sinovac Biotech, the Chinese company that developed Coronavac, only recommends two doses of their product. Coronavac is believed to be one of the lowest quality coronavirus vaccine candidates available worldwide, with an efficacy of only 50.38% in clinical trials. Nations that have relied on Coronavac or other Chinese products for their vaccination programs, such as Seychelles and Chile, have seen large increases in the number of coronavirus cases occurring alongside an increase in the number of fully vaccinated people, which suggests poor vaccine performance.

For this reason, Sinovac and the Chinese government have considered the possibility of a third “booster” dose or of mixing the product with more successful vaccines, but they have not officially recommended any of these routes, since at the moment they are still subject to experimentation.

The statements Erdogan in Tuesday’s interview with TRT, Turkey’s public broadcaster, did not clarify whether he received a third dose of Coronavac or whether he received a dose of a different vaccine.

“I received three doses of the vaccine, and then I checked for an increase in my antibody levels. Thank God I reached 2,160 [unidades por mililitro]”Erdogan told the network, according to a translation by the dissident outlet Turkish Minute.

Erdogan did not elaborate on when he received the third dose or why the doctors recommended it. According to Ahval, another independent Turkish media outlet, Erdogan received his second dose of Coronavac on February 11. His first dose, on January 14, was a nationally televised event, intended to inspire confidence in vaccines and increase the interest of the general public.

Turkey has suffered from a severe local coronavirus epidemic. As of Thursday, the Turkish government has documented almost 5.3 million coronavirus cases within its borders since the pandemic began and 47,768 deaths. The case count is higher than that of all but four countries in the world, disregarding the fact that evidence suggests rogue states such as China, Russia and Iran have significantly underestimated their numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths. .

Turkey has administered nearly 30 million doses of all Chinese coronavirus vaccine products available in the country as of Thursday. Since most products require two doses, this translates to about 13 million people fully vaccinated and 16.6 million people still waiting to complete their doses, according to Ahval. Turkey has a population of about 84 million people, which means that only 15% of the country is fully vaccinated.

Erdogan’s claim to have received a third dose of Coronavac leaves open the possibility that other senior officials in his Justice and Development Party (AKP) may have also received unauthorized third doses, meaning that even fewer people in the country they can be fully vaccinated.

The Turkish president has previously blamed “grave injustices” on a global scale for the low vaccination rates of Turkey and the world. Speaking at the World Health Summit in May, Erdogan said alleged vaccine inequality was especially damaging to places like sub-Saharan Africa and that the world’s richest countries have a responsibility to share their vaccine doses. .

“While the majority of the population in developed countries has been vaccinated with at least one dose, this rate has not even reached 1% in sub-Saharan Africa,” argued Erdogan. “We support the efforts of multilateral financial institutions and initiatives for fair access to vaccines.”

In reality, dose shortages have not been a major impediment to vaccination in Africa. Several nations, such as Malawi and South Sudan, have returned or destroyed thousands of doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccines donated through Covax, the World Health Organization (WHO) program to distribute vaccines to underdeveloped countries. Countries cited the general lack of public demand and the inability to keep vaccines for long without expiring as reasons why doctors could not use them.

Erdogan also hinted at the possibility that Turkey would soon have a vaccine developed in the country to share with the world “as soon as it is ready.” The state news agency Anadolu claimed last week that the Turkish vaccine candidate had passed phase I of clinical trials, the first of three phases that traditionally precede approval for mass distribution.

Turkish Minute He noted that the country’s opposition politicians did not consider Erdogan’s complaints about rich nations enough to justify him receiving three doses of the vaccine himself.

“While [algunos] they can’t get even one dose, Erdoğan gets three, ”objected on Wednesday an opposition leader, the vice president of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) group, Engin Özkoç.

–