ISTANBUL – Turkey has so far administered 140 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as part of the ongoing vaccination campaign, the Turkish Health Ministry revealed on Thursday.

According to the ministry’s data, the vaccination rate of citizens aged 18 and over who have received two vaccine doses hit 84.10 percent, and those with one shot reached 92.31 percent.

The number of people who have taken their booster doses neared 24 million in the country of 83 million people, it added. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca particularly urged unvaccinated people aged 65 and over to immediately get their shots as the hospitalization rate among them is over 10 percent.

Bulent Kocer, a medical expert told local media that COVID-19 patients may have lung problems and cardiovascular troubles in the long run after the infection, drawing attention to the importance of the vaccination.

The daily COVID-19 cases have been hovering around the 70,000 thresholds for the last 10 days, according to the ministry.

Experts have been warning that the cases could hit the peak in the coming weeks as around 18 million Turkish students will begin a two-week winter break on Friday, and the mobility will be high.

Turkey launched its vaccination drive a year ago with China’s Sinovac vaccine, and later included the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It started to use its indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Turcovac at the end of December 2021.