ISTANBUL, Aug 12 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish physicians are calling on more people to get vaccinated, in order to lower the risk of getting infected with COVID-19.
Huseyin Pehlivan, working at the COVID-19 zone, in the state-owned Prof. Dr. Cemil Tascioglu City Hospital, said, he received two shots of China’s Sinovac vaccine earlier this year and just took the third boost shot.
“Thanks to these vaccines, I did not get infected, even though I am with the COVID-19 patients all the time,” Pehlivan said.
He urged more people to receive vaccines, saying, “Most of the COVID-19 patients here are those who are not vaccinated.”
Hakan Akelma, an anesthesiology and reanimation associate professor, in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province, said, 65 in 100 COVID-19 patients in the hospital he works for are unvaccinated.
Akelma urged citizens to get their vaccines done without delay.
Gursel Bedir, provincial health director in the eastern Erzurum province, told reporters, the directorate conducted a study on COVID-19 patients treated in intensive care units in the last four months. The study revealed that 460 in 589 patients were those who have never been inoculated.
Esin Davutoglu Senol, a professor of infectious diseases at the Ankara-based Gazi University, said, “Vaccinated people are less likely to transmit the virus.”
Turkey, with a population of 83 million, administered 80 million vaccine doses, according to the latest data, published by the Health Ministry. Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca said, the vaccination rate of those over 18 years old reached 50 percent, yesterday.– NNN-ANADOLU
