ATHENS – Greece's Eleftheria (Freedom) vaccination campaign hasn't hit the magic 70 percent mark of the country's population needed to slow the COVID-19 pandemic – except at universities.

While the country's young were among the most reluctant to be inoculated, the combination of offering them 150 euro ($177) digital wallet bonuses and requiring them to be vaccinated or face restrictions has spurred them on.

Data from the Education Ministry seen by Kathimerini showed the average has hit 70 percent at the universities but is 76 percent at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), 75 percent at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and 72 percent at Panteion University.

It is 70 percent at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and 64 percent while 8 percent of the student body across the country is believed to be infected although shots aren't mandatory for them.

Those figures were collected early in August and the paper said that makes it likely the numbers are higher as students rush to be protected against the Coronavirus before the universities open.

Greece has a small, but rabid anti-vaxxer segment including students, some of whom have openly said they don't believe in the vaccines and that the Coronavirus is a disease of the old although more young are now being infected.