Greece proceeds with the vaccination of residents of islands with over 10,000 population, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday. At a teleconference with mayors from 19 islands, the PM said that:
- all island residents over 18 years old will be vaccinated against Covid-19 with the single-jab vaccine of Johnson & Johnson by the end of June.
“The goal is the universal and complete vaccination of the permanent residents of the islands by the end of June at the latest. That is, our islanders to welcome this summer safe and completely shielded from the coronavirus. It is clear that this program wants to support local island communities and their economy. However, it aspires to offer a positive sign to the overall picture of our tourism “, Mitsotakis stressed.
Vaccination of residents of 32 islands has already been completed and in another 36 is to be completed by the end of May.
The vaccination on the islands is carried out at vaccination centers by teams of the Public Health Care system as well as with mobile teams and is often supported by private organizations..
The PM did not listed all 19 islands, however, the local mayors participating at the teleconference were from
Salamina, Aegina, Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Lemnos, Mykonos, Rhodes, Kos, Syros, Naxos & the Small Cyclades, Santorini, Kalymnos, Thassos, Paros, Corfu, Zakytnhos, Lefkada and Kefalonia.
The goal is the universal vaccination of all residents of the Greek islands by the end of June with the exception of Crete, a high-ranking health official said.
Mitsotakis underlined the need for the vaccination of islanders pointing out at the allowing of inter-regional travel by next weekend.
According to scenarios of the Epidemiologists’ Committee, those from Greek mainland traveling to the islands may need a negative Covid-19 self-test or a proof that they have been vaccinated. However, this is something that the health experts and the government has still to work out together with shipping companies and airlines.
Official announcements are scheduled on tomorrow, Wednesday, May 12, 2021.
A shame they did it for tourism income rather than the health of its citizens,,,,,,,,,
Why is Crete not included on the vaccination of all the islands?
Good news, but this won’t happen until they sort out the mess of providing temporary AMKAs to everyone!!
and what about those who don’t want to be injected? seems like everything is being rammed through for a pre-determined image they want to sell for package tourism? gotta tick off all the check boxes, who cares about actual people?
even more management excellence from the powerpoint generation.
The temporary AMKA numbers are…….,where???
No AMKA – no vaccine. If you are EU citizen, non EU citizen or Greek citizen who has worked abroad and now returned home and pay taxes you must apply online for a temporary AMKA number. The system doesn’t work. Apply as many times as you like, always the same result. No AMKA. None of us (tens of thousands at minimum) can get vaccinated without this number. As usual, no mention of this broken system, or any proposal to fix it. Problems don’t go away just because you refuse to admit they exist. Nor do they fix themselves either. This is a national disgrace. When, oh when is this government going to do something about it?
Just an update re temporary amka numbers: I first applied late February/early March online. I applied three times in total and my accountant tried once too. I used my passport and my residence card at different times.
The last application was mid April. I’m age 55, so my ‘time’ was in April.
On April 27, I received three emails inviting me to apply for my temporary number (all corresponded with my three application dates). I applied again.
I just now received a text with my temporary amka inviting me to book an appointment.
So, the system worked.
That’s been my timeline, so it may give you some idea of the waiting period
I’m an EU citizen on an Ionian island. I have no idea if location matters. Or whether it’s just happened because now the government is concentrating on vaccinating the islands plus they’ve received a huge supply of Johnson & Johnson!
Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the booking system for actual appointments as I’ve travelled abroad to get my vaccine two weeks ago. I do at least hope this comment gives everyone still waiting some belief that their wait may soon be over. Wishing everyone a safe summer.
Thanks for the update TS, we are 62 and 56 near kalamata and no sign of ours yet ……we started registering on 20th feb! and have done it many times and through the kep as well …..I suspect you are priority as you are on an island. Come on greece …..this is NOT rocket science ……we just want a jab not a number!!!!!! It is a shame on greece.
I know personally UK citizens who have no residence status of any sort but they have been allocated a temporary AMKA number and have a vaccination appointment confirmed in the next week or so. It is working for some.
Crete has a population approaching 650,000 people. It is simply too big to use the sort of blitz technique that has been used on the smaller islands.
If the aim is to vaccinate everyone then it should be simple for everyone to be vaccinated. You should be able to get and appointment for a shot with a copy of your passport. Everybody wants to be vaccinated. And the hospitals should have a simple card and stamp the card and passport copy. Or is that too easy? I could implement that in 1 week.