Turkey has signed a deal for 50 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.
"We are at the last stage for Sputnik V vaccine emergency use authorization and made a deal for its procurement. Turkey signed a deal to receive 50 million doses within six months," Koca said in a televised speech after a meeting of the ministry's Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board.
The first shipment of the vaccine will be made in May, the minister noted.
Turkey is continuing its inoculation campaign with CoronaVac from China's Sinovac and a vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
It has carried out 22 million inoculations, with 13.55 million people having received a first dose.
Authorities earlier announced that they were negotiating with Russia to obtain the vaccine.
On Monday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said Turkish pharmaceutical firm Viscoran Ilaç will produce the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine at its plants.
The manufacturing will be launched in the coming months.
Turkey has also been in talks with Germany for the joint production of a coronavirus vaccine.