Greece’s Prime Minister has said that he expects vaccinations against Covid-19 to start on December 27, in line with other EU nations, with the first batch of Pfizer/BioNTech jabs scheduled to arrive on December 26.
Speaking on Friday, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told colleagues that Greece was waiting for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine developed by American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German company BioNTech.
“We expect that the first batch of the vaccine will be in our country on Dec. 26 and from the following day we will be able to have our first vaccinations at five hospitals in Athens and then in Thessaloniki,” Mitsotakis stated.
Mitsotakis added that according to the latest update, the EMA was likely to approve the Pfizer jab on December 22.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen confirmed in a tweet on Thursday that the first vaccinations in the bloc would start on December 27.
“It’s Europe’s moment. On 27, 28 and 29 December vaccination will start across the EU,” she wrote.
Greece has been less impacted by Covid-19 than other European nations, registering 36.80 deaths per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University. Mediterranean neighbor, Italy has a death rate almost three times higher.
On Thursday, Greece reported 1,155 new cases, bringing the total number of registered Covid-19 infections to 128,710 and 3,948 deaths.
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