CoronaVac

Turkey's vaccination campaign is proceeding to its next step, focusing on the very elderly and those in institutional care, the country's health minister said on Jan. 18. 

"As of tomorrow [Tuesday], we will start the vaccination of people staying in care and nursing homes, and of those caring for them," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

Turkey plans to start vaccinating nearly 90,000 residents and workers at care and nursing homes and disabled care facilities against COVID-19 this week, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Authorities are also hoping to complete administering the first dose of the virus jab to the country's more than 1 million health care professionals this week.

The global COVID-19 vaccination drive gained pace on Jan. 17 as Brazil gave its first injections and India pushed on with its massive campaign, while European authorities sought to allay concerns about delays in supplies.

Turkey is carrying out its COVID-19 vaccination program at a speed among the fastest in the world thanks to, according to the health minister, the country's experience in mass inoculation and strong infrastructure.

Turkey rolled out the massive injection drive last week on Jan. 14 starting with health care workers, administering the vaccines brought from China in late December 2020.

Over 650,000 health care workers in Turkey have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the first three days of the vaccination campaign in the country.

Turkey started administering the CoronaVac vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech company to health care staff on Jan. 14.

The first batch of 3 million doses of the vaccine arrived in Turkey on Dec. 30.

Turkey has begun administering nationwide vaccinations against COVID-19 starting with more than 1 million health care workers after authorities approved the emergency use of vaccine developed by China's Sinovac.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and members of the Health Ministry's Science Board were the first ones to receive the shots of the injection live on TV on Jan. 13.

Another 115,000 doses are expected in February

Η χώρα έχει προμηθευτεί 3 εκατ. δόσεις του κινεζικού εμβολίου CoronaVac της Sinovac

Turkey is seeking to increase the amount of COVID-19 vaccine the Germany-based BioNTech company developed jointly with Pfizer it will receive, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said.

The minister held a videoconference with Professor Uğur Şahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, to explore the prospects.

Turkey's health minister announced late on Jan. 7 that an agreement for 50 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine was finalized at the first meeting this year of the Science Committee. 

"As of today [Thursday], we have finalized an agreement for 50 million doses of an inactive vaccine and received the first dispatch of 3 million doses," Fahrettin Koca said in a press statement.