Turkey: 20,000 Turks volunteer for COVID-19 vaccine

ANKARA

About 20,000 volunteers applied for the Chinese coronavirus vaccine Friday in Turkey.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the vaccine has been initially tested on health workers since Sept. 15 but citizen volunteers are needed for tests to continue.

“We announced that we seek volunteers among citizens and received 20,000 applications before the end of the day. Thank you on behalf of 83 million (citizens),” he said on Twitter.

The virus has claimed 1.3 million lives worldwide and 36.6 million patients have recovered since it was first reported in December.​​​​​​​

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk