A nurse prepares a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a health center in Ankara, Turkey, on Jan 26, 2021.[Photo/Xinhua]

ISTANBUL - Turkey on Friday received the remaining part of the second shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.

A Turkish Airlines plane landed at Istanbul Airport early in the morning, carrying 3.5 million vaccines, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.

On Monday, Turkey received 6.5 million doses as the first part of the second planned consignment of a total of 10 million.

The mass vaccination program in the country started on Jan 14 after the delivery of the first batch of 3 million doses from China at the end of December 2020.

According to the Health Ministry's data, nearly 1.8 million Turkish citizens have been vaccinated so far, and the program is going on as planned.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently announced that his country would get 50 million vaccines from China as part of the procurement plan in the first phase.