Turkey starts offering COVID-19 booster shots to all adults
All citizens aged 18 and older will be able to receive their third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine starting on Nov. 11, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. The Health Ministry had opened the bookings only for the elderly and citizens with chronic diseases last week.
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Turkey will start administering booster shots for citizens aged 18 and older beginning on Nov. 10, the country's Health Minister said on Nov. 10.
Anyone older than 18 years of age who were administered an mRNA vaccine at least six months ago can receive "reminder shots,” Fahrettin Koca said.
"Previously, reminder shots were started to be administered for our citizens aged above 60. In today's evaluation, it has been decided that reminder shots start to be administered for all of our citizens aged above 18," Koca said.
Koca made the remarks in a written statement after attending a meeting of the Coronavirus Science Committee.
Last week, the Health Ministry had opened the bookings only for certain groups, i.e. people over the age of 60, citizens at high risk for severe COVID-19 due to chronic illnesses, and workers at high risk due to their occupational settings.
Turkey has administered over 117.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive in January, according to official figures released on Nov. 10.
More than 55.72 million people have been given a first vaccine dose, while over 49.4 million are fully vaccinated in the country.
The Health Ministry has also administered third booster shots to over 11.49 million people.
Meanwhile, the ministry on Nov. 10 recorded 27,259 new coronavirus cases and 203 related deaths.