Turkey to start inoculating 40-50 year olds

Duvar English

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced that people aged between 40 and 50 are set to begin getting COVID-19 vaccinations.

Those aged 45 to 50 will start receiving their first dose on June 10, whereas citizens in the 40-45 group will start getting their jabs on June 14, Koca said on June 9, while speaking after a meeting of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board.

Last week, the Health Ministry starting vaccinating people in the 50-55 age group, with a plan to decrease the age limit further to 20 in the upcoming months.

Koca also announced on June 9 that the country will inoculate volunteers with a locally-developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate next week.

"Next week Turkey will vaccinate volunteers for Phase 3 human trials. Many vaccine development projects are underway. One of them has reached the final stage,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on June 9 confirmed 6,454 new coronavirus cases and 87 deaths from the virus. The number of new cases on June 8 was 6,609.

Turkey has administered over 31.75 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a vaccination campaign in mid-January, according to official figures released on June 9.

More than 18.36 million people have received their first doses, while 13.39 million have been fully vaccinated, said the Health Ministry count.