The president of the National Vaccination Committee Maria Theodoridou and the Secretary General of Primary Health, Marios Themistokleous presented all the latest data on the progress of vaccinations in Greece.
Maria Theodoridou said in her presentation: "The focus is on the opening of schools. The pandemic has had devastating consequences for education. Children and parents responded willingly to the vaccination, the participation is very satisfactory. There is no recommendation for a third dose in persons under 18 years of age. It is administered only in cases of immunosuppression, in people who have a chronic disease or are taking medication. Questions exist for children who have infection with no or few symptoms and have scheduled vaccinations. A single dose is recommended after three months. If a first dose has been given and disease follows, no additional dose is needed."
And he continued: "The rare and real risk of MIS-C disease, (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children) occurring two weeks after illness with SARS had been highlighted. Two doses of Pfizer vaccine protect 91% against this syndrome, according to a US study. Another study showed increased diabetes in people under 18, thirty days after infection. For the fourth dose, the special committee in the UK concluded that the third-dose programme offers very good protection. Moreover, the spread of Omicron is rapid and possible new measures will not be affected. The granting of a fourth tranche will be a matter of concern in the future."
For his part, Marios Themistocles said: "We have exceeded 18.1 million vaccinations. Over 7.15 million, or 68.1% of the general population, have completed vaccination. For the booster dose, 3.97 million vaccinations have been administered to beneficiaries. All citizens should have had a third dose seven months after the second dose and three months after the first dose in the booster vaccine. They have until 31 January. For the pediatric vaccines, 37,000 children have been vaccinated, appointments are available. On Friday, 40,000 more appointments were made. At the same time, more than 150,000 first-dose appointments have been booked for those over 60. From today, those who have been vaccinated in an EU country will be able to upload their certificate on the anagnorisi.emvolio.gov.gr platform. Those over 60 who have not been vaccinated have until 16 January and then the confirmation of fines will start."
For the Penteli Children's Hospital, Themistocleous said: "Today it worked normally, there will be ten vaccination lines there, vaccinations will probably start on Monday."
Asked about the flu outbreak, Theodoridou said: "We have no indications of a flu outbreak so far. There are sporadic cases, they have increased, but we are not afraid. For the combinations with the coronavirus, flurona, it concerns a case, the pregnant woman from Israel. For the combination of Delta and Omicron there is always when both viruses are circulating, but we don't have significant records yet. However, there will be. Right now, there are no intubated with Omicron, according to data from doctors in hospitals. Let's not be Cassandra with Omicron and the fourth dose, it has a mild clinical projection. Everything we heard from the beginning is now being verified."
Source: Proto Thema
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