Turkey will further expand its mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 to include all adult citizens, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca stated in a press conference late Wednesday.

Axar.az reports that this was reported by Turkish media.

"Turkey will start inoculating everyone aged 18 and above, starting this Friday," he said after a Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board meeting in Ankara.

Turkey has administered more than 44 million doses during its inoculation campaign that kicked off in January 2021 and has exceeded the vaccination numbers of most countries. After combating vaccine hesitancy and delays in vaccine imports, it went on to break daily vaccination records, surpassing 1 million per day over the past two weeks. Between May 30 and June 6, a total of 1.8 million people were vaccinated across the country, while this number reached 7.7 million over June 14-20. On June 17, it broke a record with more than 1.5 million jabs administered in one day.

The numbers are a result of the Health Ministry’s inclusion of new groups in the campaign, almost on a daily basis. Though the campaign began with a focus on age, with the oldest citizens vaccinated first, it expanded into occupational groups regardless of age this summer, from teachers to factory workers. Venues were also diversified and the public can now have their jabs in factories, in the fields and orchards where they work or, as in some cities, at malls or tents set up at busy squares.