Over 1M people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Turkey

The number of people in Turkey who have received their first dose of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus exceeded the 1 million mark as of Wednesday.

A week into Turkey's mass vaccination campaign, in which it is administering CoronaVac jabs purchased from Chinese company SinoVac, immunization efforts are running smoothly.

Turkish health experts have underlined that improvements in both the quantity and quality of health facilities in recent decades have had a major effect on the country's abilities in fighting the virus outbreak, as well as in conducting mass vaccinations.

The role of city hospitals opened across Turkey's 81 provinces have been particularly noteworthy, with the capacity to serve tens of thousands of patients daily.

Turkey's cold-chain infrastructure, required to store vaccines, also played a crucial role in swift and efficient vaccinations which have won global recognition.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Mustafa Ilhan, a senior medical scientist at Gazi University in the capital Ankara, stressed that Turkey has historically been successful in conducting mass vaccination drives to root out such diseases as polio, tetanus, hepatitis, and chickenpox.

"This practice, combined with the health infrastructure, has elevated Turkey among the top-10 vaccine administrating countries," he noted.