The developers of Türkiye's locally developed Turkovac COVID-19 vaccine are now focusing their attention on developing a vaccine to combat Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF).

Professor Aykut Özdarendeli, who leads the team at Erciyes University’s Vaccine Research and Development Application and Research Center (ERAGEM), said they will start vaccine development studies against CCHF and plan to move to Phase 1 soon after waiting for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the progress so far, the director said the team has achieved 100% protection on the "recombinant" platform in preclinical trials.

As the institute behind the country's COVID-19 vaccine, Özdarendeli highlights that Turkovac was developed within 18 months under pandemic conditions. "We are currently working on Turkovac's new variations as well. We are testing different combinations for research," he said.

CCHF is caused by infection with a tick-borne virus and can be fatal. Özdarendeli warned that it is a serious health problem in Türkiye.