By Gozde Bayar
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has so far administered more than 15 million coronavirus vaccine jabs across the country, according to official figures on Monday.
According to Turkish Health Ministry data, over 8.4 million people to date have received their first doses of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, while second vaccine doses were given to more than 6.6 million.
In the commercial hub Istanbul, home to nearly one-fifth of Turkey’s population, over 2.33 million coronavirus vaccine jabs were administered, including more than 1.29 million first doses and 1.04 million second doses.
Following Istanbul, more than 1.18 million coronavirus vaccine jabs were given in the capital Ankara.
On Jan. 14, Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.
Turkey has so far acquired nearly 28 million doses of Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
Turkey started to gradually normalize from coronavirus restrictions as of March 1.
The country has so far confirmed more than 3.2 million cases, including 31,076 fatalities and over 2.95 million recoveries.
The pandemic has claimed nearly 2.78 million lives in 192 countries and regions since it originated in China in December 2019.
Over 127.25 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now surpassing 72.19 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.
The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.
