Turkey to receive 50m doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Erdoğan says

Turkey will receive 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 26. "We have managed to leave behind with minimal trouble a period in which even the most prosperous countries faced heartbreaking scenes," he said.

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Turkey will receive 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the first delivery, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 26.

"Thankfully we've started inoculations with the steps we took and the payment we made, which will deliver 50 million doses of vaccines to us in the first delivery," Erdoğan said. 

"The world's most developed countries, now, are facing vaccine shortages. We have managed to leave behind with minimal trouble a period in which even the most prosperous countries faced heartbreaking scenes," he said.  

The president also didn't mention a brand name for the promised 50 million doses.

Some 6.5 million doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine arrived in Turkey on Jan. 25 in the second shipment of a total 10 million doses, while mass vaccinations began in Turkey on Jan. 14 after the first batch arrived on Dec. 30.

To boost public confidence in the vaccine, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and Erdoğan were among the first to be vaccinated. The government last year introduced nighttime and weekend curfews to stem the spread of COVID-19.