TRNC to start vaccinations on January 15

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will begin vaccinations on January 15, with Chinese vaccine, Sinovac which is to be delivered by Turkey, it was reported on Monday.

According to report by Turkish Cypriot daily, Yeni Duzen, Minister of Health Ali Pilli said vaccinations in the TRNC will start on January 15 with vaccines Turkey purchased from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. 

He said priority will be given to the elderly living in nursing homes and health care workers. 

The TRNC will also receive part of the Pfizer vaccines the EU secured for the island of Cyprus which the Minister said will be put into use as soon as they arrive. Two special refrigerators where 300,000 vaccines can be stored at minus 75 degrees Celsius have been secured too.

Also, the Minister said authorities are also investigating whether the mutated variant of Covid-19, first detected in the UK, is present in the north.

Pilli said that they would send samples to Turkey for lab tests to examine whether the new variant of the virus has arrived in the TRNC.