Turkey receives remainder of second Sinovac vaccine consignment
Turkey received the remaining portion of the second consignment of 10 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech on Friday morning.
- World
- Anadolu Agency
- Published Date: 09:29 | 29 January 2021
- Modified Date: 05:55 | 29 January 2021
The second shipment of the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines ordered from China arrived early Friday in Turkey.
A Turkish Airlines plane that departed from Beijing landed at Istanbul Airport at 6.10 a.m. local time (0310GMT) carrying the 3.5 million doses of the vaccine.
A total of 10 million doses of the vaccine were imported in the second batch.
The first batch of vaccines consisted of three million doses.
Turkey has signed a deal with Chinese drugmaker Sinovac Biotech to buy 50 million doses to vaccinate 25 million people.
Mass vaccinations in Turkey began on Jan. 14.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were among the first to be vaccinated to boost public confidence in the vaccine.
The government has also introduced nighttime and weekend curfews to stem the spread of COVID-19.