«Green light for AstraZeneca vaccine and for people over 65

The vaccine of Astra Zeneca will now be available in our country to people over 65 years of age, as the president of the National Vaccination Committee said yesterday Maria Theodoridou, as the Committee updates its recommendations, following the latest research showing that the vaccine is also effective in the elderly.

She noted, however, that many people belonging to the older age groups have not yet been vaccinated, although a Greek study shows that the intention to vaccinate in the over-70s has increased by 85.9% since November, and concluded «we need to mobilise for vaccination».

It also made the finding that no fully vaccinated persons have been admitted to the ICU, according to reports from those working in intensive care units, he said.

Mrs Theodoridou added that it is too early to have data on the reduction of morbidity and mortality in our country, due to vaccinations, but she pointed out that many of those who are now admitted to the ICU are not elderly and vaccination seems to have contributed to this.

As he pointed out, about 1,000 people who have been vaccinated with one dose in our country became ill as well as 354 who had received both doses. The number is relatively small for those who have already been vaccinated and he explained that this is likely to happen if someone has been infected before vaccination. However, he added that vaccines are not 100% effective, but stressed that if someone has had the vaccine and gets sick, the disease will be much milder.

Once again, Mrs Theodoridou called on everyone to register for the intangible prescription, as this will greatly assist in the vaccination process.

Referring to the new knowledge that is being added daily to the scientists' quiver on vaccination, she said that on Monday three studies on vaccination in elderly people were pre-published and are extremely positive. Speaking about two of them, he said that one was done in Edinburgh and the other in the UK and they show a significant reduction in hospitalizations in older people who have been vaccinated with either the Phizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. The Edinburgh study shows that a single dose of vaccine after 28 to 35 days reduced hospital admissions by 85% in those who had received only the first dose of the Phizer vaccine and by 94% in those who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine. In the UK study, both vaccines were shown to be effective in the over 70s. In particular, an 80% reduction in the risk of hospitalisation was recorded. «A reduction in hospital admissions was achieved with one dose» concluded Ms Theodoridou.

M. Themistocleous: Increasing participation in the vaccination process

Monday 8-03-2021, we exceeded 1,120,000 vaccinations and on the same day 30,000 were carried out, said the Secretary General of Primary Health Care Marios Themistokleous, during the briefing on the National Vaccination Coverage Plan for the disease COVID-19.

Around 747,000 citizens have received the first dose of the vaccine and 373,00O have received both doses. The vaccination coverage in the country, he said, reaches 7,12% by 8-03-2021. He said that in the age group of 85 and above 212,000, citizens have been vaccinated or have made an appointment for vaccination, a rate of 57%, in the age group of 80-84, 230 have been vaccinated or have made an appointment.000, rate 58%, in 75-79, 65% citizens have been vaccinated or have made an appointment and in ages 60-64, 352,000 citizens have been vaccinated or have made an appointment, rate already exceeds 50% for this age group.

He said that as time goes by, participation in the vaccination process is increasing and added that in March, vaccination opens for vulnerable groups in category A and then for category B. He also estimated that by the end of April, early April he said, 64 years and above will have been vaccinated. By the end of March to early April, those living in closed facilities will also be vaccinated.

On the timeline for receiving the vaccines, he said that by April Pfizer will have delivered 1.71 million doses. He said following the AstraZeneca vaccine developments, the system would be consolidated and the vast majority would be vaccinated by late April-early May. He said that Johnson & Johnson has confirmed that it will meet its monotonic vaccine deliveries for the or quarter of the year. In total, it is about 1.2 million installments of which the first 400,000 are expected at the end of April in our country as Mr. Themistocleous said.