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Covid-19 vaccination in Greece: All you need to know about procedures

The online platform where citizens can register for Covid-19 vaccination goes in operation early Monday evening, January 11, 2021. On this platform, citizens can check whether they belong to a priority groups for the vaccination and register for an appointment.

Keep in mind that citizens will need to have a Greek tax number and a social security number (AMKA) in order to be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination.

Vaccination program “Freedom” started with the inoculation of health workers and residents and staff of elderly care homes. It continues with the immunization of the general population on Jan 20. First priority group of the general population are those aged 85+, followed by those aged 70+ independent of underlying health problems.

Those already registered with the so-called “paperless prescription” system (άυλη συνταγογράφηση) will not need a further registration, as they will receive an automatic SMS message with a proposed appointment for vaccination that will simply need confirmation.

On embolio.gov.gr website or app, one can check whether one belongs to priority groups by typing AMKA number, name and surname. The platform operates as of 6:00 p.m. Monday, Jan 11, 2021.

Those unfamiliar with the use of computers or apps, appointments can be arranged at a pharmacy or a Municipality Citizens Service office KEP.

How to check priority group

Type AMKA number and first name, surname at website embolio.gov.gr or the web/mobile app or send these data with SMS to dedicated phone line <13034>.

Note: The SMS service with <13034> works with a Greek mobile network provider only.

If registered to “paperless prescription” you will not need to do anything, just to confirm the appointment when your turn comes.

Schedule your vaccination appointment

Check in at emvolio.gov.gr with TaxisNet codes (username and password).

The citizen will reportedly be able to check among several appointment proposals.

Anyone already registered for the electronic prescription system will receive an automatic message with a proposed appointment. The receiver  simply needs to send confirmation, either through the emvolio.gov.gr website (using their TAXIS username and password), or through an SMS to the 13034 phone line.

Citizens will receive a unique code number for their appointment as well as the QR code, depending on how the appointment is arranged.

Note that the service arranges also the second dose of the vaccination. The appointment for the 2nd dose cannot be changed as it has to be carried out a specific number of days after the 1st dose, media reported.

Appointment Reminder

Three days before the appointment the citizen will receive a reminder e-mail and/or SMS about the time and date of the vaccination plus a link for a website with preparation instructions such as “no fever,” “code”and instructions depending on the vaccine to be used.

The appointment or vaccination center can be changed only once, media said.

The emvolio service also arranges the repeat vaccination (second dose) at the same time, it also sends a reminder e-mail and SMS with instructions in preparation for the appointment three days beforehand.

Turn up for Vaccination

Those turning up for the appointment, the citizen will be asked to show the code-number or QR code he received and a form of ID (ID card, passport etc).

The citizen will then be asked to fill in a questionnaire that includes general questions and others specific to the type of vaccine being used. Depending on the answers and after an assessment of their overall physical condition by a doctor, a decision will be taken on whether to proceed with the vaccination.

The vaccination center will also register the details of the vaccine dose used and the patient, allowing traceability and pharmaceutical monitoring.

Currently, Greece has received only the Pfizer vaccines.

Vaccination in Greece is not mandatory and it is free of charge.

Note that there is also this Free Covid-19 Rapid test offered by the Health Ministry. You can register in filling up first name and surname, mobile, Postal Code, age, profession. However, it is not 100% you will be chosen for this test.

Useful links

Vaccination platform emvolio.gov.gr here (note that the registration button is not uploaded yet, will be on Monday afternoon – KTG will add the link as soon as it is available)

Paperless prescription ehealth.gov.gr here. You will need your TaxisNet codes, AMKA number, your e-mail and/or mobile number when you will receive the Codes to confirm and launch the service.

Free Covd-19 Rapid Test registration form here.

Note that all websites and apps are in Greek.

Priority groups

According to Health Ministry, from the first priority group (health workers, nursing home residents and staff), a total of some 120,000 people, 44,080 people have been inoculated by Sunday, Jan 10, 2021.

The second group, those 85+, are estimated to be around 100,000. They start receiving SMS as of today, the vaccination is to be launched on Jan 20.

Third group: aged 70+

Fourth group: aged 60+, those with a chronic illness, those working in important services of the state.

Fifth group:  aged 18+

7:10 citizens have to be inoculated in order to have heard immunity in the community, the ministry says, adding that even after one receives the vaccines, protection measures have to be observed.

POLL

And a general question: What will you do? Will you receive the vaccine against the Covid-19 pandemic?

Will you receive the Covid-19 vaccine?

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More information on coronavirus in Greece here.

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17 comments

  1. Please , let us know what will happen for foreign people who leave in Syros for a long term ?
    we are 63 years old ….
    Thank you Regards Edith Debru and Alain Maquère

  2. Hallo KeepTalkingGreece.
    Thanks for the usefull information on Covid vaccination programme, but is it possible that you could write about what foreigners- like myself (from Denmark) – who stays here but doesn’t have a permanent address in Greece, shall do to get a vaccination in Greece?

  3. That is an important point: How can foreigners living in Greece not in possession of an AMKA get the vaccine ?
    I really do not care if I have to pay for it or not. But I would hate to fly back to Germany (with all the hassles and risks involved in traveling in these times) just to get my jab.
    I would appreciate any information about this as soon as possible.

  4. Marcelis Vanmechelen

    Hi KTG team,
    Is there anything known yet about vaccination for travelers that want to enter Greece in the future. I have a holiday house in Greece, but I would rather wait to get vaccinated, until the longer-term effects of this experimental vaccine are known. So I hope this doesn’t mean that I cannot visit my holiday house in paradise anymore.
    Is there anything known about plans to make vaccines mandatory to enter the country in the future?
    Regards,
    Marc

  5. Nice to see the Greeks are keeping it nice and simple again, as well as incomplete , thousands of foreigners are like myself being full time residents in Greece, so for them………….., there is what?

  6. @Keeptalkinggreece, Could you please ask the government how

    a) elderly with walking handicap and
    b) residents without social security number get the vaccine?

    My mother is an 85+ Greek living in Greece, but she worked in Germany her whole life. If she and other people living in Greece could not get vaccinated the whole system must be assessed as health catastrophe (and also discriminatory).
    Kind regards, Dimitri

  7. For all non greek residence – if your country has a reciprical ageement with Greece for Health care and you are of retirement age, then you should have an AMKA No. so that you can recieve your public heathcare.. In this case registration for the vaccine will be easy if you visit a chemist or KEP with your IKA and AMKA no. and ID (permit or passport)

    If you are below retirement age and working in Greece paying Nationsl Insurance (AMKA) then again you should have an AMKA No and the same rule applies as above.

    However, if you live here and work on the ‘black’ or make no tax or National Insurance contribution to Greece, why would you expect Greece to provide you with a vaccine ?

    • I retired early, I do not have a state pension but I don’t work here “on the black” and am happy to spend my money in Greece. I do want the vaccine and I am willing to pay for it. I don’t want to have to get on buses and planes among all the people I’ve been shielding from in order to go abroad to get it.

  8. It’s worth pointing out that having the maximum uptake of the vaccine is important for Greek society as a whole, so it is in the best interests of citizens for foreign residents to receive the vaccine (and I’m sure a lot of us would happily pay) as well as locals.
    I fully understand that the authorities may wish to give priority to their citizens, but once they are covered it would be wise to offer the vaccine to foreign residents, too.

    • Indeed. Excluding a whole group of people from a national vaccination campaign thanks to a rigidly exclusionary system is a splendid example of cutting off your nose to spite your face…

  9. See the Kythera Group’s Facebook page for updates on vaccination for those without an AMKA number. So far, the Greek government has made a complete hash of this important issue, which affects a substantial number of those living or currently residing in Greece. The form on envolio.gov.gr for those without an AMKA number claims that it is not mandatory, but send off the form and you receive in return an email pointing out that in order to proceed you need… an AMKA number.

    More information: https://www.facebook.com/KytheraGroup/

    • keeptalkinggreece

      I know *sigh*. On the other hand, why not get an AMKA when you live in Greece?

      • Because it’s not easy to get one if you don’t fit into pre-determined pigeonholes. Square pegs include retirees with houses who decided to stay on rather than face Covid in their home cities, holders of the much-trumpeted Golden Visa, overseas students and Greeks resident abroad amongst others. Furthermore, the latest advice from Citizen’s Advice Bureaux is that they are no longer issuing AMKA numbers, even to those entitled to them; the very hesitantly offered advice, strongly flavoured with “but don’t quote me”, is that perhaps you might get one at the central Social Security offices in Athens, a bureaucratic hellhole if there ever was one. Maybe.