A medical worker receives a dose of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at the Sabiha Uzun Maternal Child Health Center in Ankara, Turkey on Jan. 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)
Turkey started vaccinating citizens residing or working in nursing homes against COVID-19 on Tuesday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.
Speaking at a meeting with the provincial health directors on Monday, Koca said the vaccinations would also cover people in disabled care centers and care homes, as well as citizens aged 90 and above.
The minister noted that the program aims to complete the inoculations of this group by the end of this week.
On Jan. 14, Turkey began the mass vaccination process with the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese company Sinovac.
Since then, 851,745 of a total of 1.1 million healthcare workers, defined as the first group, have been vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry's data.
The program will move on to people aged 65 and above and those working in specific sectors in the upcoming period.
Turkey received the first shipment of 3 million doses of vaccines from China at the end of December, as part of a bigger deal, and expects to get the rest in the upcoming period.
