Turkey so far gives 5M+ COVID-19 vaccine jabs nationwide

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has so far administered over 5 million coronavirus vaccine jabs across the country, according to official figures.

According to Turkish Health Ministry data, over 4.32 million people to date have received their first doses of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, while second vaccine doses were given to nearly 703,000.

In the commercial hub Istanbul, home to nearly one-fifth of Turkey’s population, over 810,000 coronavirus vaccine jabs were administered, including more than 680,000 first doses and 120,000 second doses.

Following Istanbul, nearly 450,000 coronavirus vaccine jabs were given in the capital Ankara.

Last week, ahead of starting to give second doses, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Turkey intends to vaccinate 60% of its population.

Turkey ensured at least 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and reached agreement for over 100 million vaccine doses in total, he said.

He added the country will receive 500,000-800,000 doses of the BioNTech vaccine in February, with the total number reaching 4.5-5 million by the end of March.

Turkey began its mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, starting with healthcare workers and then the elderly.

Since December, Turkey has had night and weekend curfews to curb the spread of the virus.

Since it emerged in December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 2.4 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.

More than 109.2 million cases and over 61.41 million recoveries have been reported worldwide.