ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th December, 2020) Turkey received the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac on Wednesday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Turkish Airlines has said earlier that it would deliver the first shipment of three million doses on Wednesday.
"The plane that delivered our vaccines arrived at Ankara's Esenboga airport. Our Council for Drugs and Medical Equipment will immediately start testing them, and the process will last 14 days. Once this [testing] is over, our vaccination program will be launched," Koca said in a statement.
Turkey is set to receive 50 million vaccine doses developed by SinoVac by March. Ankara also plans to procure 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine by April.
The vaccination in Turkey will be held in several stages, and some nine million people from vulnerable groups, including health workers, would be prioritized.
