Aegean isles receive jabs ahead of tourist season

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

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

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

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

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

Greece is fighting to revive its key tourism sector that was battered by the pandemic in 2020 but its vaccination rates remain below the European Union average and the 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 the largest with more than 600,000 residents, followed by Evia, Rhodes, Corfu, Lesbos, and Chios.