ATHENS — No adverse side effects have been recorded so far during the vaccination of the country's elderly citizens, said the Head of the National Vaccination Committee Maria Theodoridou on Monday.

She was speaking alongside Health Ministry Secretary General for Primary Health Care Marios Themistokleous, during the regular live briefing on the unfolding vaccinations program.

Professor Theodoridou warned that the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine provides only half the protection a person will get from having both shots administered, which provides a 95 pct protection rate.

Speaking on the vaccination plan, Themistokleous revealed that 16,271 vaccinations had been performed nationwide until Monday evening. The number is expected to surpass 17,000 by the end of scheduled appointments on the same day, he said.

In total, 176,689 vaccinations have so far been carried out in Greece – 168,809 for the first dose and the rest for the second.

The government’s online platform for the booking of inoculation appointments for citizens aged 80-84 opened last Friday, while in terms of older citizens (over 85), more than 69,000 have been inoculated, along with 88,000 medical staff and some 17,000 residents at nursing homes.

The booked appointments total has so far reached 649,000, he underlined; of these, 245,000 for the first dose and 404,000 for the second; 25,000 people are medical staff and 105,000 are aged over 85 and 115,000 over 80.

Most of Greece's citizens who belong to vulnerable groups will have been vaccinated by the start of this coming summer. He also said that the government received another batch of 100,000 vaccines from Pfizer on Monday, and stressed that "deliveries have resumed, and we hope that the timetable will be kept."

Some 500 doses of the vaccine who were not administered due to failed appointments were passed on to medical and army staff.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Tuesday visited two health centres in downtown Athens where vaccination centres have been set up in the context of "Eleftheria" vaccination programme.

"The work that is done here is excellent. I am very happy to see the citizens happy because the main point of the National Health System in primary healthcare and hospitals is to serve the citizens," stated Kikilias after his visits.

Referring to the vaccinations, he said: "I am happy that our strategy is being implemented".

Concluding, he said that "together we have managed to keep the country upright in the midst of COVID-19 and we hope that we will manage to end this chapter and get our lives back."

Kikilias was accompanied by the general secretary of primary healthcare Marios Themistokleous and the director of the 1st health district Panagiotis Stathis.