Mitsotakis urges for faster vaccine delivery as private health care sector placed on alert

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called on all pharmaceutical companies to ensure they meet their schedule deadlines in the second quarter of 2021, anticipating that there will be a “significant increase” in the vaccination rate.

Mitsotakis met with European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas to discuss inoculations and the vaccination certificate.

“Yesterday (Thursday) we exceeded the milestone of 1 million doses. Greece is moving proportionally faster than many European countries,” Mistotakis said.

“The question now is how to expedite the process so that we can build the wall of immunity which will allow us to return to normalcy.”

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks with EU leaders during an EU summit, via videoconference , from his office in Athens, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 (Dimitris Papamitsos/Greek Prime Minister’s Office)

The Health Ministry revealed yesterday that it is taking inventory of all available beds in the private health sector as the number of hospitalised patients constantly rises. The precurtion is reportedly in case the ministry needs to deploy them at short notice. 

“Depending on how the epidemic develops, we are examining all scenarios,” said Deputy Health Minister Vassilis Kontozamanis.

The average daily admission rate of patients with Covid-19 to Attica hospitals last week was 200, compared to 330 nationwide.

READ MORE: Greece’s COVID-19 cases skyrocket to 2,702 as new restrictions enforced
READ MORE: Greece surpasses COVID-19 milestone after one million vaccinations administered to public

According to Vana Papaevangelou, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Athens University, more than 3,200 patients with coronavirus are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 throughout the country, while 196 patients were intubated in the last week. The nationwide occupancy rate of Covid ICUs is 63% while the figure for Attica is 87%.

The document by the health ministry said the inventory request is being made “due to the emergencies created by the spread of Covid-19 and in order to properly prepare the country for the protection of public health.”

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