Azerbaijanis will probably be vaccinated with Turkish-Chinese vaccine free

Baku/24.12.20/Turan: In an interview with Turan, the state organization Təbib, responsible for the fight against the pandemic in Azerbaijan did not confirm the widespread reports of Baku's intention to buy Turkish vaccines. “The Azerbaijani government has decided to purchase 4 million units of coronavirus vaccine from Turkey. Report informs citing sources in the government. According to the information, the vaccine will be purchased from the Turkish company Keymen İlaç. The party will cost 80 million manats. In accordance with the government's decision, part of the funds will be paid by the Fund to Support the Fight against Coronavirus, the other part - by the Ministry of Finance. At the initial stage, Keymen İlaç will receive 50% of the total,  reads the report. But Təbib representative Elnara Bakhshyeva told Turan that they still have no information about plans to purchase Turkish or any other vaccine.

According to other reliable information that Turan managed to obtain, the Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan is engaged in the issue of state procurement of anti-coronavirus vaccines, therefore, Təbib may not know about the agreement reached with Keymen İlaç. The "Turkish version" is full of surprises. At the beginning of April 2020, Turkish specialists successfully tested a vaccine against coronavirus infection on animals. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the beginning of November that Turkey could have its own vaccine by the spring of 2021. One or more vaccines developed by other countries may become available in Turkey by the end of the year. It is known that the Turkish government was negotiating and intends to vaccinate with a Chinese-made drug for free.

Azerbaijan will start voluntary vaccination against coronavirus COVID-19 in early 2021, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said. “The vaccination program is scheduled to begin early next year. It will be voluntary and at the expense of the state,” Aliyev said at the summit of the CIS heads of state on Friday, Interfax-Azerbaijan reports.

The President also noted that Azerbaijan has developed a vaccination strategy in this matter. “It implies multi-platform and regardless of what technologies are used, the main criterion for us will be the scientifically based safety of these vaccines,” he stressed. “Now, when the vaccination process begins in the world, we are also involved in this process. Over the past many months, negotiations were held with leading vaccine manufacturers such as Sputnik-V, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Moderna, Pfizer, BioNTech and I also want to note that Azerbaijan was one of the first to join the international Covax initiative with the participation of WHO on fair access of countries to vaccines,” Aliyev stressed.

The companies listed by the president operate in Russia, England-Sweden, China - 2 companies), Germany and the USA - 2 companies. There is no Turkish among them. Consequently, at the time when I. Aliyev spoke at the summit of the heads of state of the CIS, the option with the Turkish vaccine itself was not envisaged.

Why did Baku unexpectedly Baku choose the Turkish Keymen İlaç? Two specialists who wished to remain anonymous told Turan that the pharmaceutical companies listed above are ready to sell their products abroad after they fully satisfy local demand. Consequently, Azerbaijan could buy these vaccines, including the Russian one, by the spring-summer of 2021. Time is running out, 40-50 people die from coronavirus every day in the country. Therefore, it was decided to purchase the vaccine in Turkey.

“We will buy the Chinese panacea Sinovac, but from the Turkish representative office of this company. The vaccine is being tested in the laboratories of the Turkish Ministry of Health." “Turkey buys the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, the last phase of clinical trials of which was carried out, including in Turkey. On December 23, the official announcement of the test results and the degree of effectiveness was supposed, but the company did not manage to process the data from three countries - Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey. The process will take approximately 2 more weeks,” two experts told Turan. —0—