Greece to receive first 9,000 coronavirus vaccines on December 26, says health ministry official

Greece will receive the first dosages of the coronavirus vaccine on the same date as the rest of the countries in the European Union, on December 26, said the ministry official, totaling 9,750 vaccines. On the next day, December 27, the country's first inoculations will take place at five hospitals in Attica: Evangelismos, Sotiria, Attikon, Asklipieion and Thriasio.

On December 28, some vaccines will be sent to the university hospitals at the cities of Larisa, Ioannina and Patras, so that staff there can be vaccinated on December 29.

By December 30, Greece shall receive the first large batch of 83,850 vaccines. According to the European Union's agreement among member states as per each country's population-to-vaccines distribution ratio, another 429,000 dosages will be received by the end of January 2021 in Greece, and another 333,450 by the end of February, he noted.

By the end of March 2021, Greece will have received some 1,265,550 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech alone, he underlined. He also noted that additional vaccines by pharmaceutical companies Moderna and AstraZeneca might be added onto January orders for Greece, if authorized early enough.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Digital Governance has prepared the relevant online platforms that will be accessible by citizens for coronavirus vaccination appointments, which will be open to the public around mid-January.

The Ministry of Defense will assist in the transportation of the vaccines in the country's remote rural areas, while the Citizen Protection Ministry will be responsible for security during the overall distribution.