Mitsotakis at the HELEXPO Vaccination Mega Centre: 500.000 vaccinations done, 1 million appointments
The vaccination mega-centre at the Helexpo facilities in the Athens suburb of Maroussi will have 96 vaccination units when it is working at full capacity.ANA – MPA/ ANA – MPA/ YANNIS KOLLESSIDIS
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday paid a visit to the Vaccination Mega Centre at the Helexpo exhibition centre in Maroussi, Athens where he thanked everyone involved in the roll out of the “Eleftheria” vaccination programme against Covid-19.
“Yesterday we had done over 500,000 vaccinations and we have booked more than one million appointments. We are fully meeting the commitment we made to vaccinate our fellow citizens who want to be vaccinated as quickly as possible and with the maximum possible safety, depending on the amount of vaccines we receive each week,” he said.
Mitsotakis inspected the first of the four giant vaccination centres that have been set up in order to greatly increase the daily capacity for vaccinations and thanked the armed forces that provided the personnel for the centre, which will initially operate between 8:00 in the morning and 20:00 in the evening.
“What we are interested in is … for citizens to come and get the service they deserve, to be vaccinated quickly and with safety and for this process to run as quickly as possible. This ordeal will be over when a significant number of our fellow citizens have been vaccinated,” the premier said.
During the visit, the prime minister also spoke with the director of the mega-centre for vaccinations in Thessaloniki, which is ready and will also start operating on Monday, via teleconference. He noted that another two large centres will set up in Athens, while more will be added to increase the capacity for daily vaccinations if necessary.
Mitsotakis said that Greece was currently one of the top countries in Europe for daily vaccination rates, organised through an electronic procedure that involved minimal inconvenience for the public. He also emphasised the importance of convincing those that had doubts that the vaccines are safe and effective.
Deputy Civil Protection and Crisis Management Minister Nikos Hardalias said that the government had worked fast to add 396 additional vaccination lines once the supply of vaccines permits.
The chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDS) General Konstantinos Floros, on his part, said that the armed forces were once again at the side of society during the pandemic, providing personnel and technical expertise to help in the pandemic.
The vaccination mega-centre at the Helexpo facilities in the Athens suburb of Maroussi will have 96 vaccination units when it is working at full capacity. It will initially carry out 2,400 vaccinations a day in February, which will eventually increase to 5,760 a day and 150,000 a month. Appointments will be booked every 15 minutes. There is also a special entrance/exit providing disabled access, as well as an examination room and a small clinic for those requiring short-term medical assistance or experiencing any undesirable reactions.
A similar centre has been set up at the Thessaloniki International Fair exhibition facilities in Thessaloniki, which will initially have 24 vaccination units and will be capable of administering 1,000 vaccinations a day, rising to 6,480 a day and 160,000 a month.
Source: ΑΝΑ – MPA
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