Minister urges people not to skip jab appointments

ISTANBUL

“Many people do not come to get their vaccinations even though they have an appointment,” despite knowing that those who are vaccinated can generally overcome the disease quite easily, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

“The time to be allocated for vaccination will not hinder your work, but if you are caught with the disease unvaccinated, your whole order may be disrupted,” Koca noted, urging people to stick to their appointments.

Earlier yesterday, Koca once again invited those who have never been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get jabbed.

“The rate of those who have never been vaccinated among the adult population is less than 8 percent,” the minister said, expressing that a significant portion of them used to say that they would get vaccinated after everyone was vaccinated.

“Almost everyone has been vaccinated. We are waiting for you,” Koca said.

So far, Turkey has administered over 139.5 million doses since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January 2020.

More than 57.2 million people have received their first dose, while over 52.1 million are fully vaccinated. The number of people who have received their third COVID-19 vaccine dose has crossed 23.5 million.

As the comprehensive efforts of the authorities in a bid to slow down the worrying spread of the disease are ongoing, Turkey’s vaccination drive continues uninterrupted, particularly in the country’s east, where vaccination rates lag.

“In [the eastern province of] Van, which is preparing to pass into the blue category with a second dose vaccine rate of 74.5 percent, mobile vaccine teams continue their work despite the weather conditions,” Koca said on Twitter, sharing a video of health professionals taken during their visit to a remote village in snowy and cold weather conditions.

In Turkey’s COVID-19 risk map, provinces are divided into four different risk groups based on the infection and vaccination rates of residents: Low (blue), medium (yellow), high (orange) and very high (red).

According to the latest data, Van is expected to enter the blue category in a couple of days, becoming a second province in the region that gets a “low risk” code after the neighboring province of Hakkâri.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s confirmed cases of the COVID-19 increased by 64,935 in the past 24 hours, and 162 more people have died, the Health Ministry announced. Some 72,106 patients recovered in the last 24 hours.