Over 130.61M coronavirus vaccine shots given in Turkey to date

By Merve Berker, Jeyhun Aliyev and Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has administered more than 130.61 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive in January, according to official figures released on Wednesday.

More than 56.86 million people have received a first jab, while over 51.53 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to more than 18.34 million people.

The ministry also confirmed 36,684 new COVID-19 infections, 142 deaths, and 25,638 recoveries over the past day.

As many as 366,363 virus tests were done in the past 24 hours.

Following the virtual meeting of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca received his booster shot of the homegrown COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac in the Ankara City Hospital.

"I strongly advise our people to be vaccinated with Turkovac, and especially to have a booster shot of it," he said.

Turkey will start offering the Turkovac vaccine as of Thursday, Koca also said.

The minister also warned of the rise in coronavirus cases recently, citing people spending more time indoors during winter and the omicron variant spreading rapidly.

He, however, said there has been no increase in hospitalizations.

Koca urged people to spend less time indoors and wear mask all the time.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 5.41 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 283 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.