Turkey will accelerate its vaccination campaign as of June 1 when it will start inoculating citizens aged 50 and above, the country's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Wednesday.
After a meeting with the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, Koca announced that Turkey will soon use its own vaccine.
"I would like to share the good news that we will soon be administering our own COVID-19 vaccine."
He further added: "With current developments and plans for normalization, it has become clear that we will recover from the devastating impact of the outbreak this summer."
Furthermore, Turkey has signed deals to procure 270 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, "which is more than three times our population."
"At the beginning of next week, about 5 million doses of vaccine will reach our country," Koca said.
Turkey on May 17 started a gradual normalization process after a 17-day lockdown that brought infections in the country down significantly.
Until June 1, weeknight curfews from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. remain in place as well as a full weekend lockdown.
Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.4 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 167.4 million cases reported worldwide, according to the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.
