Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated that coronavirus vaccines will arrive in Greece at the end of 2020, a day after Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias came under fire for claiming the same thing: that the first batch of a vaccine not fully approved yet will be available in the country by the end of the year.
“Greece participates in the agreement for the pre-emption of the vaccine against the coronavirus and will receive it share according to the agreement between EU and the pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca if the under development vaccine passes successfully the necessary trials,” the Prime Minister said on Wednesday.
“The best scenarios is the vaccine to arrive in Greece at the end of 2020,” Mitsotakis added.
Hours after Health Minister’s announcement, a spokeswoman of the European Commission put a break to Greece’s optimism and certainty saying that “we cannot give an exact date for the vaccines.”
Spokesperson Vivian Loonela was responding to a relevant question by a Greek correspondent in Brussels.
“The EU strategy is to have the vaccines as soon as possible, but also with the biggest possible security,” she added.
Main opposition party, left-wing SYRIZA accused Minister Kikilias making false claims saying that “he announced the purchase of a vaccine that does not exist yet.”
Furthermore, SYRIZA accused the government of “playing with the public anxiety” through “cheap government-generated populism that is both unacceptable and dangerous.”
