BioNTech CEO to attend meeting of Turkey's Coronavirus Science Board

German pharmaceutical company BioNTech's CEO Uğur Şahin will virtually attend the meeting of Turkey's Coronavirus Science Board to be held this week, the Turkish health minister said.

Speaking to reporters after Monday's Cabinet meeting, Fahrettin Koca said that Ankara has reached an agreement with BioNTech to acquire 90 million vaccine doses.

At least 30 million jabs will be delivered by June, while the rest are set to arrive until September, he added.

Koca also announced that Turkey will receive 10 million doses of China's Sinovac coronavirus vaccine and that a "significant amount" of the shots are expected to arrive this week.

On the latest developments in the vaccination efforts, he emphasized that the goal is to reach 18-20 age groups in June. He added the social immunity can be achieved next month or in July.

So far, more than 26.4 million vaccine doses are administered in the country, according to the data from the Turkish Health Ministry.

The total number of coronavirus patients in the country is over 5 million and nearly 45,000 people lost their battles against the pandemic, while about 5 million have recovered from the disease.