CoronaVac

Turkey's Health Ministry has taken a step aiming at speeding up daily vaccinations against COVID-19 by increasing the number of inoculation appointments.

According to the new measure introduced, vaccinations are scheduled for every five minutes in the afternoon while the appointments before noon remained unchanged at 10 minutes apart.

Turkey targets to vaccine 60% of its population, with the second doses of vaccines for people who got the first jab starting on Feb. 11, the country's health minister said on Feb. 10.

The number of people in Turkey who have received their first doses of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus crossed the 2.5 million mark as of Feb. 4, according to official figures.

In Turkey's mass vaccination campaign, under which health professionals are administering jabs of CoronaVac purchased from Chinese company Sinovac, immunization efforts are running smoothly.

The number of people who have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has crossed the 2-million mark in Turkey.

The country, with a population of 83 million, rolled out its inoculation program on Jan. 17. Mostly health care professionals and the elderly have been administered the jab which Turkey secured from the Chinese firm Sinovac.

The second shipment of the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines ordered from China arrived early on Jan. 29 in Turkey.

A Turkish Airlines plane that departed from Beijing landed at Istanbul Airport at 6.10 a.m. local time (0310GMT) carrying the 3.5 million doses of the vaccine.

A total of 10 million doses of the vaccine were imported in the second batch.

The number of people in Turkey who have received their first dose of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus crossed the 1.5 million mark as of Janç 27, according to official figures.

In week two of Turkey's mass vaccination campaign, in which it is administering CoronaVac jabs purchased from Chinese company SinoVac, immunization efforts are running smoothly, officials say.

A plane carrying the second batch of a COVID-19 vaccine ordered from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd. arrived early on Jan. 25 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 plane, which departed from Beijing, landed at Istanbul Airport at 6.15 a.m. local time (0315 GMT).

As many as 6.5 million doses of China's CoronaVac vaccine will be delivered to Turkey on Jan. 25, the country's health minister has announced.

"In line with our purchasing plan, the vaccine shipments to Turkey will continue smoothly," Fahrettin Koca tweeted on Jan. 24.

A health worker prepares to vaccinate a colleague against COVID-19 with Sinovac's Coronavac vaccine at the Prof. Dr. Cemil Tascioglu City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, 14 January 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

Some health experts have warned that the effectiveness of these vaccines is still not fully researched, and note that their delivery dates are also still uncertain.

The government should outline a precise vaccination timeline so that citizens know when they can get vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic, the leader of the main opposition party has said, asking the government about contracts with supplier countries.