PM calls on EU to avoid further vaccine delays

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the rate of vaccinations against Covid-19 in the country depends on the availability of vaccines and called the European Union to avoid further delays in their roll out in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday.

Mitsotakis said that Greece has fared better than other countries in dealing with the pandemic and inoculations are moving in an accelerated pace.

“Of course we are very dependant on the number of vaccines that we receive from Europe. I do expect the number of vaccines, come Q2, to ramp up significantly,” he told Bloomberg.

“There’s no doubt there were issues in terms of the execution of this project. I think that the president of the commission boldly enough accepted her share of responsibility,” he said, commenting over the curbs in vaccine deliveries due to delays in production.

“Now we need to move forward to make sure that as new vaccines are approved…we will not run behind other countries in terms of how quickly we actually receive these vaccines. I’m sure that even in Brussels…the lessons have been…learned.”

He also estimated the pandemic will wane as of April due to the improving weather. The goal, he said, is to return to normalcy as soon as possible. “We do hope that, come summer, a significant percentage of the Greek population will be vaccinated.”

Regarding the impact of the pandemic on the Greek economy, Mitsotakis said that the first quarter of the year will be worse than expected due to the lockdown, but that March will be better.