Covid infections among family doctors increase despite vaccination

Click to read the article in Turkish

The coronavirus infection rate among family healthcare center (FHC) doctors increased to 76 percent in April, according to the Turkish Medical Association's (TTB) monthly survey.

The survey was conducted among more than 1,300 family doctors across Turkey.

The infection rate among family doctors was 40 percent in September and 70 percent in December, noted Emrah Kırımlı, a TTB Family Medicine Branch member, at an online meeting to announce the findings of the survey.

The current increase occurred despite 92 percent of the family doctors receiving two vaccine doses in January and February, he stressed.

"We asked family doctors, 'Did you get sick in March and April despite being vaccinated?' The rate of family doctors who became ill despite receiving double vaccine doses was 12 per 10,000. In April, this increased to 45 per 10,000. And this was not unexpected.

"As the number of cases increases and mutations become more widespread, the power of the vaccine we have is not enough to prevent the outbreak. This is why we demand public measures.

"Ninety-two percent of the family doctors got vaccinated. There are a total of 25,000 family doctors. Over the past month, nearly 100 of our colleagues had Covid-19 despite getting two vaccine doses."

The number of people becoming infected with the virus despite being vaccinated is on the increase not only among doctors but also among the public, Kırımlı noted.

Catching Covid-19 while waiting at the queue

Referring to a statement by the Health Ministry's scientific advisory board that about 2,500 people were infected after receiving two vaccine doses, he said, "Looking at our data, this figure should be at least 10 times higher."

"We see that our patients catch Covid-19 while waiting at the vaccine queue. We see that the spread of the mutated virus is worrying," he added.

Over the past month, Turkey has been experiencing the hardest coronavirus wave as the number of daily cases has now exceeded 60,000 and deaths have quadrupled.

Starting its mass vaccination in early January, Turkey has mostly relied on China's Sinovac vaccine while also procuring about four million doses of Pfizer's BioNTech. As of today, 7.9 million people in the country of 83 million have received two vaccine doses. (RT/VK)