Turkey, COVID-19 Vaccinations for 20 Million People... Yet Confirmed Cases Increase

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] The number of COVID-19 vaccine recipients in Turkey has surpassed 20 million, but the number of confirmed cases is on the rise.

On the 19th (local time), the Turkish Ministry of Health announced that the number of COVID-19 vaccine recipients in Turkey has exceeded 20 million, which is about 24% of the total population. Among the vaccinated, approximately 12.2 million have received the first dose, and 7.79 million have completed the second dose.

In Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, 3.17 million people have been vaccinated, and in the capital Ankara, 1.59 million have received the vaccine. Most of the vaccines administered in Turkey are the CoronaVac vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac.

The Turkish government began administering the CoronaVac vaccine on January 14, and since the 2nd, it has also been vaccinating with the vaccine jointly developed by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech.

However, no noticeable vaccine effect has appeared. The number of new confirmed cases is actually surging. On January 14, when vaccinations began, the number of new confirmed cases was 8,962, but as of the previous day, the number of new confirmed cases increased to 55,802.