Aegean isles receive jabs ahead of tourist season

Residents of tiny Aegean islands began receiving ir second doses of coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, just as Greece prepares to launch its tourist season.

doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived by plane on island of Naxos, before being distributed by coast guard to small islands of Iraklia and Schiussa.

Naxos Mayor Dimitris Lias, who also oversees smaller islands, said that in 15 days Iraklia and Schiussa "will have much-awaited wall of immunity."

A total of 72 people of Iraklia's 80 residents received ir second dose on Thursday. Of Schiussa's 160 locals, 135 were vaccinated.

vaccinations on two small islands were scheduled ahe of a government anuncement earlier this week that a programme to vaccinate local residents on Greek islands would be accelerated ahe of tourist season.

Greece is fighting to revive its key tourism sector that was battered by pandemic in 2020 but its vaccination rates remain below European Union aver and country has only recently stabilized a surge in cases.

Islanders make up around 1.5 million of Greece's population of 10.7 million.

Many holiday islands have a year-round population of under 10,000, while Crete has largest with more than 600,000 residents, followed by Evia, Rhodes, Corfu, Lesbos, and Chios.