Opposition in the north has criticised Turkish Cypriot authorities for wanting to return 50,000 AstraZeneca doses that expire next month, reports said on Friday.

According to daily Yeniduzen, 50,000 AstraZeneca doses of the 80,000 delivered to the Turkish Cypriot community last month as part of the ones the EU reserved for Cyprus, were not used and now authorities want to return them as they expire in October.

Citing sources within the ‘health ministry’ the daily reported that there was no demand for vaccine in question and they have now started a procedure to return the remaining doses.

This prompted a reaction by main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) which criticised the ‘government’ for wanting to return the doses at the time when the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the north is close to 20,000.

The party, citing the fact that vaccination coverage in the north was around 55 per cent, accused the ‘government’ of not managing the pandemic properly and failing to use the doses in question. It also said that people who received two doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine at least six months ago must now receive booster jabs.

Head of CTP Tufan Erhurman asked the ‘government’ why it did not do something to put people’s minds at ease when it came to vaccine hesitancy among Turkish Cypriots.