Turkey inks deal for 50 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the vaccines would begin arriving next month.
Turkey has secured a deal for 50 million doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced Wednesday.
"We are at the last stage for Sputnik V vaccine emergency-use authorization and made a deal for its procurement. Turkey signed a deal to receive 50 million doses within six months," Koca said in a televised speech.
Some 13.55 million people in the country of 83 million have received their first jab of either the Chinese-made Sinovac or the US-developed Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. On Monday, a Turkish pharmaceutical company announced it would begin local production of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
Koca said in televised remarks that health officials were lengthening the recommended period of time between the first and second jabs of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, raising the wait period from four weeks to six to eight.
