Turkey to start inoculating 40-50 year olds

Turkey will begin COVID-19 vaccinations for the 45-50 group on June 10 and for the 40-45 group on June 14, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.

Thursday June 10 2021 12:20 am

A woman gets vaccinated at an Istanbul hospital in this photo.

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.