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ATHENS, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Greece launched an online
platform on Monday for people to register for vaccinations as
authorities prepare to begin rolling out COVID-19 shots for the
general public after a first phase of inoculating top priority
groups.
Along with other European countries, Greece began
vaccinating frontline health care staff and elderly and
vulnerable residents of nursing homes last month following EU
approval of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech
.
Starting with those over 85, the rest of the population will
start being vaccinated from Jan. 20.
"The vaccination train has set off, it's rolling down the
track steadily and speeding up," the head of Greece's National
Vaccination Committee, Maria Theodoridou said in a briefing.
Some 49,661 people, or 0.46% of Greece's population, have
been vaccinated so far and the government aims to get some
220,000 covered by the end of the month, building to 70% of the
population of 11 million by June.
Additional vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna,
Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson are expected
in the coming months, health ministry official Marios
Themistocleous told reporters.
Monday's launch of the platform came as authorities allowed
kindergartens and primary schools to reopen after two months of
distance learning but said the situation would be reviewed every
week.
Last week authorities extended some COVID lockdown curbs
until Jan. 18, including the temporary closure of hospitality
venues and non-essential retailers.
Greece weathered the first wave of the pandemic relatively
well but a surge in cases since October has badly strained its
health system, weakened by a decade-long financial crisis,
prompting authorities to order a second lockdown in November.
It has so far confirmed 145,179 cases of COVID and 5,302
related deaths.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by James Mackenzie
and Gareth Jones)
