After several delays, Turkey to receive first batch of Covid vaccines from China tomorrow

Photo: AA

The first batch of the Covid-19 vaccines from China will be brought to Turkey via Turkish Airlines' (THY) Beijing-İstanbul flight tomorrow.

Three million vaccines doses will be delivered to the İstanbul Airport first, then Ankara, the capital according to the information given by the flag carrier.

The Boeing 777 type of plane, with 17 containers of vaccines, is expected to land at Istanbul Airport at 06.10 a.m. (GMT 03.10 a.m.) on Wednesday.

Turkey's procurement of the vaccines from China has been delayed for several times since late November when Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca announced that Turkey would be receiving a total of 50 million doses of Chin's Covid-19 vaccines, SinoVac.

He had said the first 20 million doses of vaccines would be delivered in December and January.

On December 1, the minister said Turkey would start mass vaccination of the people on December 11. At the time, vaccination of health workers and volunteers was continuing.

Koca announced another delay yesterday, saying that the arrival of the vaccines would be postponed for one or two days because of an emergency in Beijing customs due to the discovery of a Covid-19 case there. (VK)