Turkey receives 3.5m doses of Sinovac vaccine in remainder of second consignment

Turkey received 3.5 million doses of the Chinese Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 29. The second shipment of the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines landed at Istanbul Airport around 6.30 a.m.

Friday January 29 2021 10:31 am

Duvar English - Reuters

The second shipment of a second batch of COVID-19 vaccines ordered from China containing 3.5 million doses arrived in Istanbul Airport early on Jan. 29.

A Turkish Airlines plane that departed from Beijing landed at 6.10 a.m. local time carrying the 3.5 million doses of the vaccine.

A total of 10 million doses of the vaccine were imported in the second batch, while the first batch had consisted of three million doses.

Turkey has signed a deal with Chinese drug maker Sinovac Biotech to buy 50 million doses to vaccinate 25 million people.

Mass vaccinations in Turkey began on Jan. 14, and Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were among the first to be vaccinated in an attempt to boost public confidence.