ANKARA: The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were administered in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Friday.
Turkey has so far delivered 16.5 million vaccine doses nationwide, including more than 7 million people who have received a second dose of the shots developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech.
The rollout has so far included those over 60 years of age, health personnel and other priority groups.
Turkey has so far received 2.8 million doses of the vaccine, which was developed by second-generation Turkish immigrants in Germany.
The total is set to reach 4.5 million in the coming weeks, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters in parliament on Tuesday.
People who had appointments for COVID-19 shots at Ankara City Hospital on Friday were asked for their preference between the Pfizer-BioNTech and China’s CoronaVac jabs.
There were no side effects reported by people who opted for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Adem Ozsoy, a Turkish citizen, said he was happy to have received his first dose of the vaccine.
