VACCINES

All vaccines available for 40-44 year-olds from Friday

All vaccines available for 40-44 year-olds from Friday

People in the 40-44 age group will have access to all four Covid-19 vaccines currently available in Greece instead of just one starting on Friday, the country’s secretary general for primary healthcare has said.

The decision announced by Marios Themistokelous at Monday’s regular Health Ministry briefing on the pandemic will allow people in this bracket to opt out of the AstraZeneca vaccine – which is currently the only one used in this and other categories – amid concerns about possible side-effects, including rare cases of severe blood clotting.

Vaccine appointments are arranged via SMS sent to individuals who are registered on the paperless prescription platform or can be booked on the emvolio.gov.gr platform.

People in the 35-39 and 30-34 brackets – who have also been restricted to the AZ shot – will also have the option of a different vaccine, Themistokelous added, saying that the dates will be announced soon.

Regarding take-up, the official said that 4.37 million vaccines have been administered in Greece so far, meaning that 26% of the adult population has received one dose of the two-dose shots and 15.4% is fully vaccinated. That number is expected to rise to 5.6 million by May 31, Themistokelous said.

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