COVID-19 vaccine to be given to young and healthy people first

ISTANBUL

The Health Ministry has started to compile the list of those to be given priority in the COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to be used in Turkey starting from January.

The vaccines will first be made available to the young and healthy group as a result of the findings obtained from the studies conducted considering the vaccine immunity, social immunity and the mutation of the virus, Hürriyet daily reported.

Those over the age of 65 will not be vaccinated in the first place to avoid risk.

Healthcare professionals and police officers are also on the priority list of the ministry.

The ministry creates the list according to the data obtained from the e-Nabız (e-Pulse), an application through which citizens and health professionals get access to health data collected from health institutions.

Some five million doses of vaccine, which will be brought from China, will be applied in two doses where two and a half million people will be vaccinated at each stage, according to daily Hürriyet.

It is also reported that preliminary connections have been made between the authorities and the company regarding the German-U.S. co-produced BioNTech vaccine.

However, there is no clear information about how long the immunity of vaccines will last.

Since the studies were completed faster than they should, there were occasional hesitations about the vaccines, but no major problems are expected, the report said.

The health authorities expect that the outbreak can be overcome in the summer months with scientific studies and measures taken, explaining that such pandemic processes take one and a half years.

Meanwhile, Turkey registered 2,319 new coronavirus patients over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released on Oct. 29.

On Twitter, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said that the current state of the pandemic forces us to slow down our lives.

The minister has also warned Istanbul residents once more not to leave the house unless there is an obligation.

“If you’re going to be in a crowded environment, consider whether it’s worth getting the disease,” Koca said.

Last week, Koca noted that the number of coronavirus cases in Istanbul, the country’s largest city by population, accounts for 40 percent of all infections in Turkey.