Greece expects 300,000 vaccine doses in first batch

Greece expects to receive 300,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses in the first tranche, which means that 150,000 people will be vaccinated initially (vaccines will require two doses per patient), government spokesman Stelios Petsas told Parapolitika radio on Wednesday. 

Petsas said that the immunization program will be launched in December or January.

The campaign to vaccinate the population has been described by Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias as the largest of its kind since World War II, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has referred to it as "Operation Freedom." 

The European Commission said on Tuesday that European Union countries could begin coronavirus inoculations as soon as this year. 

This followed the EU drug regulator's decision to bring forward its possible approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to December 21.