As Greece entered negotiations to cancel orders for 8 million H1N1 virus jabs, it became clear yesterday that authorities are making little headway in convincing Greeks to get inoculated against the potentially fatal strain of flu.

As of last Friday, some 340,000 people had received the inoculation shot in Greece, which is well short of the target of 30 percent of the total population (some 3 million people) that had been set by the Health Ministry.

Officials said the number of people contracting the virus in Greece is beginning to drop after reaching a peak earlier this month. However, three people, with swine flu died over the weekend, aged 14, 81 and 82.

The government has started talks with pharmaceutical firms to cancel half of the vaccines it ordered. Greece had originally asked for 16 million doses but that was when it was expected that each person would need two shots.