Turkey’s COVID-19 vaccinations cross 1.5 million mark

Over 1.5 million people have received the first dose of Chinese made CoronaVac vaccine, according to Turkish Health Ministry data released on Thursday.  

Late on Wednesday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the first step of the country’s vaccination programme had finished, with all healthcare workers immunised.

Following the recommendation of the country’s scientific committee, citizens over 75 would begin receiving the jab as of Thursday, the health minister said.

Turkey’s vaccination programme was launched on Jan. 14 and has been one of the fastest rollouts in the world.

A second shipment of 6.5 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine arrived on Monday.  

But on current orders, totalling 10 million doses, the country will only be able to inoculate some 30 percent of its 82 million citizens.

Meanwhile, official Health Ministry figures released on Wednesday showed 132 COVID-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours and 7,489 new patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Since March, 25,476 people have died after contracting COVID-19 in Turkey and the country currently has 2,449,839 active cases on record.