Organization of Turkic States donates COVID vaccines to African countries

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - The Organization of Turkic States has donated more than 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Burkina Faso and Togo, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said Monday.

On behalf of the organization, Turkey has allocated 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan 100,000 doses each of the Sinovac vaccine and Hungary 211,200 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, the ministry said in a statement.

The vaccines donated by Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Hungary reached Turkey and were sent along with Turkey’s contribution Monday to Burkina Faso and Togo on a Turkish military cargo plane, the statement said.

Mentioning Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's calls on Turkic states to provide vaccines for African countries, it noted that the 400,000 doses of Sinovac were delivered to Burkina Faso and 211,200 doses of Sinopharm to Togo.

Since December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 5.26 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 266.3 million cases reported worldwide, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.