Turkey launched mass production of its domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac on Wednesday after receiving emergency use approval following studies on volunteers that demonstrated its efficacy.

Turkey quickly took action once the country’s first coronavirus case was reported in March 2020 and launched studies to develop its first vaccine to combat the outbreak.

The first 150 thousand doses of the vaccine produced will go to the warehouses of the Public Health Centers in Ankara.

President Ersin Tatar issued a message upon hearing the good news that the Turkovac vaccine had been approved for immediate use.

In his message President Tatar said he was pleased to hear that Turkovac had received emergency use approval and expressed the hope that the great success shown by Turkey during the pandemic process will continue.

He thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish Minister of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca and everyone who contributed to Turkey’s success for their efforts and expressed the hope that the mass production will be beneficial to the country.