Speaking on Saturday at a major summit of African leaders, President Reycep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would send 15 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa, adding that the low vaccination rates there was a blot on humanity.
“We are aware of the global injustice in accessing the Covid-19 vaccine and Africa’s unjust treatment,” Erdogan said.
“It is disgraceful for humanity that only six per cent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated.”
Turkey is developing its vaccine, known as Turkovac, which is in the process of receiving emergency use approval.
It was not immediately clear from his remarks whether Turkey would first send some doses of the internationally approved vaccines it was currently using, including those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
“To contribute to the resolution of this issue, within our means, we plan to share 15 million vaccine doses in the period ahead,” he said.
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