Turkey's trials of COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac will reach interim results in mid-January with at least 40 infected cases, a key threshold for approvals, the coordinator of the trials study told Reuters on Thursday.
"We will have the interim efficacy analysis when the number of infected cases reaches 40. At the moment we have confidence in the data and the analysis continues," Murat Akova, of the Infectious Diseases department at Hacettepe University, said in an interview.
"We will reach the targeted numbers in mid-January," he said.
Last week, Turkish researchers said interim analysis showed the vaccine was 91.25% effective based on a sample size of 29.
Turkey received its first shipment of 3 million doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, part of a pact for a total of 50 million.
Health workers and those older than 65 will get the first shots, the health ministry said. Then it goes to those 50-plus and suffering at least one chronic illness, in addition to those in specific sectors or high-risk environments.
The third group will include young adults and sectors not included in prior groups, followed by all others.
(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
