ATHENS — Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias visited the vaccination centres on the islands of Naxos, Iraklia and Schinoussa on Thursday, accompanied by the general secretary for primary healthcare Marios Themistokleous.

Kikilias stated that the islands are an "Eleftheria" project priority as islands are a comparative advantage for Greece.

"I saw nice people, smiling and full of optimism. This is the meaning and soul of Eleftheria programme. To vaccinate not only the major urban centres but every corner of Greece," said Kikilias in his statements.

He repeated that 2 to 2.5 million doses of the vaccine will be available in May and 3.5 to 4 million doses in June and urged every citizen to get vaccinated, particularly the elderly and vulnerable groups. "We are happy that the islanders are responding and are getting vaccinated," he added.

On his part, Themistokleus stated that the vaccinations on islands with populations below 1,000 people are concluding and soon the vaccination rate on the bigger islands will accelerate. The vast majority of the citizens of Iraklia island are getting vaccinated today, something that is a cause for optimism. We will continue with the other islands so that by next month we will have covered the greater part of the population of our islands and we will then have vaccination centres only on the larger islands," he said.