Turkey needs to immediately speed up vaccinations: CHP spokesperson

ANKARA

Turkey must speed up its COVID-19 inoculation drive and reach the vaccination rate of 70 percent to maintain herd immunity immediately, Republican People’s Party (CHP) spokesperson Faik Öztrak said on Aug. 9.

Speaking at a press conference, Öztrak noted that a total of 29 million people received their first jabs, which constitutes nearly 35 percent of the total population.

“In order to gain herd immunity, 70 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated. So we’re only halfway through the final goal,” he stated.

Turkey has fallen behind many western countries in terms of vaccination, the CHP official said.

Turkey reentered the top 10 countries in the world in the number of new coronavirus cases, he added.

Öztrak also called on the newly appointed education minister to clarify the COVID-19 circumstances of schools and if Turkey will start face-to-face education in the upcoming education term.

Öztrak urged the government to vaccinate all teachers and education personnel and thus start face-to-face education, saying that students in Turkey suffered due to distance education.

“Turkey was one of the countries that kept schools closed for the longest period of time during the pandemic. Turkey does not have the luxury of losing this education period as well,” he said.

“Otherwise, the risk of lost generations will increase even more. For this reason, if there are problems in the vaccination of teachers and staff in schools, they must be eliminated immediately,” Öztrak added.