Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that 173 more people died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, and 20 thousand 138 new cases were detected.
Stating that the Omicron variant continues to spread in Turkey, Koca wrote on Twitter, “We reiterate our warning that the increasing importance of reminders should be made without interruption.”
Minister Koca said yesterday that the rate of Omicron variant in new Covid-19 cases in crowded provinces exceeded 10 percent.
Koca did not share which provinces are in the “crowded province” class and the Omicron rate in Turkey.
Making a statement on his Twitter account, Minister Koca stated that no additional personal measures were required due to Omicron and added:
“We will continue our lives with masks, social distance and vaccination. As always, we will stay away from crowded places and environments with limited ventilation.”
Koca said that the importance of the reminder dose has increased due to Omicron and invited those who have been vaccinated for more than three months.
This month in Turkey, the time set for the reminder dose in Covid vaccines was reduced from six months to three months.
Making a written statement after the Scientific Committee meeting on December 15, Koca said that the spreading Omicron variant is more easily transmitted and that they have withdrawn the reminder doses to prevent it.
Pfizer/BioNTech, who wants to, can get Sinovac vaccine.
The effectiveness of the two doses of Pfizer vaccine against the Omicron variant is between 30 and 40 percent, according to initial determinations.
This is far lower than the over 90 percent effectiveness rate in the first version of the coronavirus.
However, scientists report that this rate can be reduced to around 70 percent with the third dose of vaccination.
Uğur Şahin, one of the founders of BioNTech, also advised countries to do a reminder dose three months after the second dose.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization announced that in some poor countries, a large part of the population has not yet been able to receive a single dose of vaccination, while in developed countries it is a wrong priority to start the third dose of vaccination.