Covid vaccination rate much lower in eastern, southeastern provinces

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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has warned against inequality between the country's regions in Covid-19 vaccination, citing the lower rates in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country.

As of March 1, the ratio of the vaccinated people to population was between 10 percent and 14.4 percent in 34 provinces whereas it was between 1.5 percent and 5 percent in 14 eastern and southeastern provinces (Şırnak, Hakkâri, Ağrı, Şanlıurfa, Siirt, Mardin, Muş, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Batman, Bitlis, Van, Gaziantep, Iğdır), the association noted.

Citing information from the field, it said the lower vaccination rates in the region are caused by the lack of trust in the government's policies and the lack of access to healthcare in the mother tongue, given that vaccination requires an application.

The vaccination rate among people over the age of 65 was also lower in the southeastern and southeastern regions, according to the TTB.

"Scientists working in this field state that the data is raw pace data that is not standardized according to age and ... the inequality may not be noticed if [figures] are not standardized," said the association.

Vaccination rate of the people over 65 per province (Table: TTB)

"The provinces with the lowest vaccination rate are also the provinces with the lowest case rates per 100,000 population according to the data in the last two weeks," said the TTB.

While Ankara (86.8 percent), Eskişehir (83.9 percent) and Osmaniye (81.6 percent) had the highest rates, Hakkari (19.8 percent), Şırnak (21.3 percent) and Siirt (24.3 percent) had the lowest rates, noted the association.

The vaccination rate of health workers is also lower in the region compared to other parts of the country, the association also noted.

Throughout Turkey, 69 percent of the people aged over 65 were vaccinated as of the start of March, said the association.

The vaccination of the elderly is very important, the association said, citing Health Ministry figures from four months ago that 73 percent of the people who died of Covid-19 were older than 65.

As of today (March 3), 9.26 million have been vaccinated with two million people receiving two doses, according to the Health Ministry. (EKN/VK)