Turkey’s health minister has announced a third dose of vaccine would be available for health care workers and people above age 50.
Fahrettin Koca said these groups, who were mostly vaccinated with two doses of the China’s CoronaVac, can choose any available vaccine for their third dose. Turkey is also administering the Pfizer vaccine and will begin use of Russia’s Sputnik V shots.
Turkey is allowing a third dose for health care workers and people over 50 because two doses of CoronaVac may not be providing enough antibodies after several months. There is little data about CoronaVac’s efficacy against the more infectious delta variant.
Koca also announced the current six-week gap between two doses of Pfizer shots will be reduced to four. This will speed Turkey’s vaccination plan where more than 34.6 million people have gotten their first shot but only about 18% of the population have been fully vaccinated.
