ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will begin vaccinating teenagers aged 15 to 17 against the coronavirus this week, authorities said on Monday, as new infections in the country continue to rise.
Greece’s vital tourism season is under way and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to announce mandatory vaccinations for workers in specific sectors such as healthcare, as well as new restrictions to control the spread of the virus.
Referring to those aged 15 to 17, the head of Greece’s vaccination committee, Maria Theodoridou, said: “The risk of illness in these ages is small, but real.”
“The main characteristic of this age group, however, is spreading the virus to their environment, which could include vulnerable or unvaccinated people.”
A country of 11 million people, Greece has so far administered more than 5,200,000 first shots and about 41% of the general population is fully vaccinated, according to Marios Themistokleous, secretary-general in charge of vaccinations.
In an effort to entice more people to get vaccinated, the government has offered incentives including cash and free mobile data for youths to try to bring the rate up to 70% by autumn.
Greece reported 2,065 new COVID-19 infections and 10 deaths on Monday, bringing the total number of infections since the pandemic began to 440,872 and the death toll to 12,802.
(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by David Clarke)
