On Tuesday, Turkey will start a new "normalization" process as the number of coronavirus cases decreased following a set of tight restrictions. Nevertheless, vaccinations must reach higher numbers for a return to normalcy. The Turkish Health Ministry stepped up efforts to that end and launched a series of ads in the media under the title of "we are rolling up our sleeves" to promote inoculation against the deadly disease. Media outlets report that authorities plan to administer at least 5 million doses of shots every week until the country reaches herd immunity goals. As of Monday, almost 29 million doses had been administered, with more than 12.4 million people having received their second doses. Big cities like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir lead in vaccination numbers, with Istanbul having the highest number, at more than 4.7 million doses administered so far.

Active case numbers in the country dropped below 100,000 while the frequency of cases is below 100 per 100,000 people in most provinces, a dramatic drop compared to weekly cases surging past 600 or more just two months ago. A 17-day lockdown and ongoing restrictions are credited with this decline, which culminated in a decrease in the daily case numbers to below 7,000 on Sunday, from around 60,000 before the lockdown, which was launched late April.

Lockdown-related fears, such as a steep hike in infections when masses returned to big cities from small resort towns in the south and their hometowns after the lockdown, did not occur, to the relief of authorities. Though the country is still ahead of its target of decreasing the case numbers below 5,000 by June, increased compliance with rules and reduced mobility prevail, more than one year after the pandemic made its foray into Turkey. Normalization, which is expected to involve the loosening nighttime and weekend curfews and the reopening of businesses like restaurants and cafes, may revive infection fears, but experts say keeping daily numbers below 10,000 would be sufficient to control the pandemic. The new normalization rules are expected to be announced late Monday following a Cabinet meeting and are expected to include the removal of the mask requirement outdoors, as long as social distancing is maintained.

Vaccinations will speed up gradual normalization steps, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca pointed out. Koca shared a string of tweets with the hashtag "kolları sıvıyoruz," or "we are rolling up our sleeves," with a video of a literal sleeve rolling and messages reading "we are rolling up sleeves for normalization of business life," "for victory against coronavirus." The delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to the country is significant to ensure that as many people as possible can be reached. The company promised 30 million doses initially, and this number will expand in the coming months. The inoculation for the last eligible group, those at the age of 18 and above, is expected to start in July or August, Hürriyet newspaper reported. Yet, there will be more of a gap between first and second doses for this age group – eight weeks according to unconfirmed reports. Currently, there is a four-week waiting period for the first and second doses of vaccines.

Authorities are also making plans for a third dose of vaccines, six months after the second dose for those injected with China’s Coronavac and nine months for those injected with Pfizer-BioNTech. However, experts still debate whether it is necessary to use the same brand of vaccine for the third dose. A different vaccine for the third dose may alleviate concerns over vaccine supplies, especially for countries with limited access to the same vaccine. Turkey is considering importing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine while it expects to wrap up the development of locally made vaccines by the end of this year. The Health Ministry is also working on an antibody study and plans to pick random samples from those vaccinated to create a map of herd immunity for the country in order to determine the period of third doses.

On Tuesday, vaccination will begin for people aged 50 and above, and the country launched inoculation for disabled citizens last week. Along with vaccinations at hospitals and clinics, health care crews reach out to people reluctant to get an appointment, visiting them at homes to convince the skeptics. In remote parts of the country, crews go door-to-door to inoculate those unable to leave home or travel to towns for jabs. "Geographical conditions challenge us but they are no obstacle for our crews. We vaccinate citizens wherever they are," Dr. Mücahit Alparslan, part of a vaccination team in the eastern province of Iğdır, said. Alparslan and his team head to the villages on the outskirts of the mountains in the early hours of the day, traveling along winding roads at a high altitude. Candan Karatoran, another health care worker on the crew, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday that they contact people who skipped vaccination or are unable to go to the hospital, traveling to villages every day to find and persuade them. "People appreciate our work and thank us. They are very interested in getting their jabs," Bircan Aras, a nurse visiting villages to administer vaccinations, said.