ATHENS – People aged 75-79 in Greeece are 91,7 pct vaccinated with one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, including booked appointments, and it is the country’s first age group to achieve that, Secretary General for Primary Health Care Marios Themistocleous said at a regular live briefing on Monday.

Inoculation appointment bookings among people aged over 60 – for whom vaccination is mandatory since the start of December and who also face a recurring monthly fine of 100 euros – went up almost 4 pct this month (from 82.2 pct to 86.4 pct), he added.

Greece on Monday received the first 60,000 vaccines for the inoculation of children aged 5-11, which begins on December 15. At least 29,000 appointmements have been booked for far, he noted.

Regarding booster shots, Themistocleous said that a 40 pct of the 5,763,670 people eligible for a third dose have so far received it.

In terms of overall vaccination rates, Themistocleous said that a total of 7,260,000 vaccinations have been carried out for the first dose, or 79 pct of the adult population (69.1 pct of the general population).

Head of the National Vaccination Committee Maria Theodoridou, who also spoke at the briefing, cited the latest information on the Omicron variant provided by White House chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci.