ISTANBUL, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Monday started to inoculate citizens aged 60 and over against COVID-19 as part of its ongoing nationwide vaccination program.

Meanwhile, some risk groups in Turkey were also included in the list, Fahrettin Koca, the country's health minister, announced via his social media account.

"The names of morbidly obese cases, cancer and dialysis patients with malignant tumors, citizens with Down syndrome, and those receiving immunosuppressive treatment were registered in the system," so they can get their vaccines done with the new group, Koca said.

Turkey launched its inoculation program in mid-January with the COVID-19 vaccines developed by China's Sinovac Biotech by giving priority to the elderly.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that his country also received 1.4 million doses from Germany-based BioNTech last week as part of a procurement deal of 10 million doses.

He said Turkey plans to complete its vaccination program in May or June.

So far, nearly 15 million vaccines have been administered in total across the country, with a population of 83 million, according to the latest data released on the Health Ministry's website on Monday. Enditem

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