Turkey has donated a total of 100,000 doses of MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine to Georgia, which is currently grappling with a measles outbreak, the Health Ministry said Friday. The vaccines were delivered to Georgia upon its request, the ministry said in a statement. The transfer was carried out under a cooperation deal signed on Feb 13. The vaccines were transferred in a refrigerated trailer and truck. They were monitored live by Turkey's Vaccine Tracking System and all the data were recorded.

Georgia's Deputy Health Minister Zaza Bokhua thanked his Turkish counterpart Emine Alp Meşe upon receiving the vaccines. In a letter, Bokhua acknowledged Turkey as Georgia's most important partner in the region and thanked Ankara for reaching out in every emergency.

"We thank Turkey for quickly responding to our need for measles vaccines to fight an outbreak," he said. He added that the European countries have been greatly affected by the number of measles cases, which has seen a recent increase worldwide.

Some 82,500 people in Europe were affected by measles last year, according to the statement. This figure is 15 times higher than the 2016 figure.