More than 87 mln COVID-19 jabs administered in Turkey so far

Turkey has administered more than 87 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since launching a mass immunization campaign in January, according to official figures on Thursday.

According to the Health Ministry, over 45.3 million people have received a first dose and more than 34.4 million are now fully vaccinated.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to nearly 7.3 million people.

The data showed that 72.99% of the country's adult population has received at least one dose of a two-shot vaccine.

The ministry also confirmed 19,320 new infections and 216 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, while as many as 14,743 more patients recovered.

Sharing a chart of virus figures for the week from Aug. 7 to Aug. 13 on Twitter, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca stressed the need for people to strictly comply with all COVID-19 safety measures.

He also announced that PCR tests, which will be mandatory for unvaccinated teachers, staff, and university students when academic activities resume on Sept. 6, will be done for free at public hospitals.

According to the latest data, the number of cases per 100,000 people was 181.96 in Istanbul-home to nearly one-fifth of Turkey's population-199.55 in the capital Ankara, and 49.81 in the Aegean province of Izmir.

Turkey on Monday expanded its intensive vaccination campaign to include everyone aged 15 and above, as well as children at least 12 years old who have a chronic disease.

A fourth dose of an mRNA vaccine is administered on demand for nationals who were previously given two doses of an inactive vaccine plus one dose of an mRNA but traveling to countries that allow foreigners who had two doses of an mRNA jab, according to the Health Ministry.

People who have contracted COVID-19 will be eligible for vaccination a month after recovery, as opposed to the previous period of three months.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 4.39 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 209.67 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University."