53 percent of teachers receive booster shots in Turkey, according to education minister

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Turkey's Minister of National Education has talked to the press about the in-class education amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking in Turkey's western province of Düzce, Minister Özer said, "Strictly abiding by the recommendations of the Health Ministry and Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, we protect schools as the safest places in society and determinedly continue the in-class education."

The Minister has also shared statistics about the vaccination rates of teachers in primary, secondary and high schools in Turkey.

According to the data shared by Özer, as of today (March 2), the rate of teachers who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has reached 94 percent. While 90 percent of teachers have received at least two doses, 53 percent have received at least three doses.

Minister of Education Mahmut Özer has noted that when it is taken together with the teachers who have not been vaccinated but immunized by contracting the virus, almost all of the 1.2 million teachers in the education system have received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"For this reason, we hope that we will determinedly finalize this semester by keeping the in-class education in place," the Minister has said.

When will the second semester end?

Following a 1.5-year suspension of in-class education, the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year began with full-time in-class education on September 6, 2021. After the semester break ended on February 4, 2022, teachers and students returned to schools on February 7.

Currently in the second semester of the 2021-2022 school year, students and teachers will have a mid-term break between April 11 and 15, 2022. The second semester will end on June 17, 2022.

Current situation in Turkey amid the pandemic

The Ministry of Health announced the latest figures on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Turkey yesterday (March 1).

While the daily number of new cases has been announced as 59,885, 203 people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 in Turkey in the last 24 hours. While 71,545 people have recovered in a day, the number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours has been announced as 403,117. (RT/SD)