The global race has heated up as several countries stated that their vaccines are nearly 100% effective and soon ready to be distributed worldwide. In recent weeks, U.S.-based Moderna, Germany’s BioNTech and U.K.-based AstraZeneca have unveiled positive interim data in a scientific race to curb a global pandemic.
Turkey is among the countries that have been working on a vaccine program since the beginning of the outbreak. One such project has been carried out at Akdeniz University, pioneered by Tarlan Mammedov, a member of the Vaccination Science Board of the Turkish National Institutes of Health.
Speaking to Demirören News Agency (DHA), Mammedov said that they have developed five different vaccine candidates by producing protein from plant leaves which are effective against all mutations of the coronavirus.
He added that the animal trials of the vaccine were successful and that human trials will begin soon.
Mammedov said they developed protein-based vaccines by transferring certain genes into the cells of plant leaves and produced enzymes. “Our vaccines have some advantages over other vaccines. There are no viruses and bacteria in these vaccines. Protein-based vaccines are safe. We suppose that it will be very effective against mutations of the coronavirus,” he noted.
