(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, JANUARY 14 - A large-scale Covid-19
vaccination campaign officially kicked off on Thursday in
Turkey, where on Wednesday evening in a symbolic gesture the
first doses were given to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and
some members of the country's technical-scientific committee.
In this initial phase, the CoronaVac vaccine produced by the
Chinese company Sinovac will be given to doctors and health
workers, as well as nursing home residents and Turkish citizens
over age 65. The Turkish government purchased 50 million doses
in all, three million of which have already been delivered.
The CoronaVac shot has mixed effectiveness rates based on the
various countries that have tested it, ranging from 50.38% in
Brazil to 91.25% in Turkey, and requires a second dose after 28
days. "Everyone must get the vaccine in order to get back to
life as before," Koca said. "We completed the tests, the
vaccine is sufficiently safe," he said. The Turkish government
is in talks with Pfizer BioNTech to purchase an initial supply
of 4.5 million doses of its vaccine. Since the start of the
pandemic, Turkey has registered over 2.3 million cases of
Covid-19 and 23,000 deaths.(ANSAmed). (ANSA).
