Not one, not two, not ten or twelve but a total of 45 government officials are on top of the priority list for the vaccine against the Covid-19 in Greece. These precious members of our society are deemed “crucial for the functioning of the state.” Among them are the President of the Hellenic Republic, the Prime Minister and the Parliament Speaker, ministers, their deputies and general secretaries as well as the leadership of the Armed and Security Forces.
Only five ministers and entourage are on the priority list: the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Citizen’s Protection, Defense. Health but also the State Minister for Digital Governance – because as everybody knows the virus is also transmitted through the internet… –
The Prime Minister and the President of the Republic will receive the vaccine on Sunday, December 27, the rest will follow.
The top priority vaccination program, the first phase of the so-called operation “Freedom”, is scheduled from December 27 to January 10. Vaccine will receive also the opposition party leaders with th exception of the leader of Greek Solution.
A total of 70,000 people are expected to get the vaccine during this period.
Next to the 45 government officials (full list here), priority will be given to health personnel, elderly living in care homes and staff at these homes.retirement homes.
What is odd is that the first batch of Pfizer vaccines that will arrive on Dec 26 are 9,750 as the General Secretary of Health Ministry Mrios Themistokleous said on Dec 21. He did not clarify whether these are double doses or single ones. Probably they are double.
‘People aged 85 and over, people aged 80 and over, people aged 75 and over, people aged 70 and over, patients with diseases that pose a very high risk for covid-19 disease regardless age, priority staff for critical government functions, people 60 to 69 years (regardless of medical history), patients 18 to 59 years old with diseases that pose a high risk for covid-19 disease.
The second phase of “Freedom” include in declining order: People aged 85 and over, people aged 80 and over, people aged 75 and over, people aged 70 and over, patients with diseases that pose a very high risk for covid-19 disease regardless age, priority staff for critical government functions, people 60 to 69 years (regardless of medical history), patients 18 to 59 years old with diseases that pose a high risk for covid-19 disease.
The second phase is expected to start in February 2021.
The third phase will include all people aged 18-59, regardless of the state of their health. It is expected to start in June 2021.
Greece will get 2.36% to 2.39% of all vaccines earmarked for the EU.
It is estimated that the country will reportedly get the following vaccines:
7.1 million from AstraZeneca/Oxford
5.3 million from Curevac
4.7 million from Pfizer/BioNTech
4.7 million from Johnson & Johnson
4.7 million from Sanofi/GSK
1.8 million from Moderna
PS it is really worrying to think that if an X gov’t official in “crucial state mechanism” suffers a heart attack or something, we’ll go under as a state, country, whatever…
