Turkey to begin vaccinating people aged over 60 and risk groups

Turkey is ramping up its vaccination drive against COVID-19 by adding people aged over 60 and some risk groups with underlying conditions to the program, the country's health minister has announced.

The country launched inoculations against the coronavirus on Jan. 14 with the jab by the Chinese pharmaceuticals company Sinovac. To date, nearly 15 million doses of the vaccine has been administered, with over 8.2 million receiving their first shots. More than 6.4 million people have received both doses.

"Citizens over the age of 60 will be able to get vaccinations by appointment with their spouses. In addition, some risk groups were included in the program," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter on March 27.

Patients with morbid obesity, cancer with a malignant tumor, and those receiving dialysis, as well as people with Down's syndrome and those receiving immunosuppressive treatment, were identified in the system for priority vaccine jabs, according to the minister.

"We want to protect our most vulnerable citizens as soon as possible," Koca said.

Last week, the minister announced that a total of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in Turkey by the end of May.

The country already received 1.4 million Pfizer/BioNTech jabs and the figure will reach 4.5 million by April, according to Koca.

He added that an optional deal for another 30 million shots from Pfizer/BioNTech was made and that initial talks already began for the procurement of Russia's Sputnik-V injection.

Vaccine studies

Apart from efforts to procure injections from other countries, Turkey is also conducting studies to develop its own vaccine, including the one in the form of a nasal spray.

If successful,...