A virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine developed by Turkish scientists against the coronavirus has started new trials. Developers will enlist 600 volunteers for a new phase in the vaccine endorsed by the COVID-19 Turkey Platform of the state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK).

Scientists hope to add it to the country’s domestically developed vaccines against the deadly infection, after Turkovac, which recently became the first approved local jab in Turkey.

Teams led by professor couple Mayda Gürsel and Ihsan Gürsel, from Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) and Bilkent University, respectively, two universities based in the Turkish capital Ankara, are behind the development of the vaccine. Nobel Ilaç, a local pharmaceuticals company, will mass produce the jab.

The vaccine’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials were completed with 376 volunteers. It has now begun Phase 2-B trials, which will include volunteers who were vaccinated with other jabs. The new phase will compare its efficiency compared to the Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine in a randomized, parallel dose trial.

Volunteers vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine earlier will be eligible for the trial. Half of the volunteers will be administered one dose of the mRNA vaccine, while the others will be given one dose of the VLP jab.

TÜBITAK said in a statement on Tuesday that the "innovative" vaccine had the ability to be adapted for fighting against different variants of the coronavirus. The statement said earlier trials indicated that the vaccine was safe, had high efficiency and was "tolerated" by the body. It said the trials would be held at least three centers in Turkey and were an important stage in the licensing process of the vaccine as the "only one in the world with four antigens."

After the omicron variant took hold in the country and drove up the number of daily cases to more than 100,000, Turkey managed to curb the pandemic significantly. On Monday, it reported only 24,404 new cases and 133 fatalities. The omicron variant reduced hospitalizations and the need for intensive care for most patients, experts say. In light of the improvement in the state of pandemic, Turkey recently eased restrictions, including its outdoor mask rule.

Vaccination and mass immunity are essential for the country to overcome the pandemic, which made its foray to Turkey in March 2020. Since the vaccination program started in January 2021, more than 146 million doses were administered to the Turkish public. The number of people with two doses of vaccine has exceeded 52 million. But experts say third or more shots are required to protect the population, citing that senior citizens and people with chronic illnesses still have a high risk of infection, even with omicron. More than 27.4 million people have been administered third shots so far.