x

Coronavirus

Turkey Won’t Make Vaccination Against the New Coronavirus Mandatory

December 10, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s health minister says his country has no plans to make vaccination against the new coronavirus mandatory but will work to convince the public about the safety of the vaccines.

Speaking to reporters following a meeting of the country’s scientific advisory council on Wednesday, Fahrettin Koca also said people who contracted the virus in the past four to six months, children, and pregnant women would not be vaccinated.

Turkey has ordered 50 million doses of the vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, with the first shipment due to arrive in the coming days. Turkey is also engaged in talks to obtain other vaccines and hopes that a Turkish vaccine will be ready for use in April.

Turkey is experiencing a surge in infections with confirmed cases of COVID-19 hovering above 30,000 per day. The country’s death toll since March has topped 15,000.

The government will assess the effectiveness of recently imposed weekend and evening curfews before deciding whether to impose stricter lockdowns, the minister said.

Koca said a total of 216 health workers have died since the start of the outbreak.

RELATED

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anthony Fauci, former chief White House medical adviser, is expected to testify before Congress early next year as part of Republicans' yearslong investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the U.

Top Stories

Columnists

A pregnant woman was driving in the HOV lane near Dallas.

General News

FALMOUTH, MA – The police in Falmouth have identified the victim in an accident involving a car plunging into the ocean on February 20, NBC10 Boston reported.

Video

Teen Girls are Being Victimized by Deepfake Nudes. One Family is Pushing for More Protections

A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are advocating for better protections for victims after AI-generated nude images of the teen and other female classmates were circulated at a high school in New Jersey.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's military on Sunday ordered more areas in and around Gaza's second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, as it shifted its offensive to the southern half of the territory where it says many Hamas leaders are hiding.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans are voting in a referendum Sunday to supposedly decide the future of a large swath of neighboring Guyana that their government claims ownership of, arguing the territory was stolen when a north-south border was drawn more than a century ago.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday attempted to turn the tables on his likely rival in November, President Joe Biden, arguing that the man whose election victory Trump tried to overturn is “the destroyer of American democracy.

NANTES, France (AP) — A supporter from Nantes died on Saturday following a fight that took place before the club's 1-0 win over Nice in the latest outbreak of violence to mar French soccer this season.

Enter your email address to subscribe

Provide your email address to subscribe. For e.g. [email protected]

You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in our newsletter.