Over 350 thousand people vaccinated against COVID-19 in a day

* Image: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Since January 26, 2021, the Health Ministry of Turkey has been sharing the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered across the country on a provisional basis with a regularly updated map.

According to the data shared by the Ministry, as of 7.45 p.m. on June 9, 350 thousand 462 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, either that of Sinovac or Pfizer-BioNTech, were administered in Turkey in 24 hours.

While the number of people who received the first dose was 18 million 363 thousand 865 in total, the number of people who received both doses was 13 million 391 thousand 800 in total. The total number of vaccine doses administered thus far was 31 million 755 thousand 665.

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New age groups to be vaccinated

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Health Minister Fahrettin Koca addressed the public yesterday following the virtual meeting of the Health Ministry's Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board.

Turkey on Thursday (today, June 10) will enter a new phase of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign as those 45 years of age and older will begin to be vaccinated, Koca noted. People over the age of 40 will also be included in the vaccination drive next Monday, he added.

Turkey's vaccine candidate

Turkey's COVID-19 vaccine candidate has reached its final stage of human trials, Minister Koca indicated further: "Next week Turkey will vaccinate volunteers for Phase 3 human trials. Many vaccine development projects are underway. One of them has reached the final stage."

Meanwhile, scientific studies on the issue that vaccines provide immunity for a certain period and the necessity of a third dose for people who have received the two doses of the vaccine are underway, he said.

Vaccination began in Turkey on January 13

The first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in Turkey on January 13, 2021 and Health Minister Fahrettin Koca was the first person to receive the vaccine in Turkey. To date, Turkey has been giving the Sinovac and BioNTech jabs, and signed an agreement for the Sputnik V vaccine.

Over 2 billion doses in the world

According to the figures shared by the World Health Organization (WHO), 2 billion 92 million 863 thousand 229 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered across the world as of June 9, 2021.

(KÖ/SD)