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 Greece, which coped relatively well during the first wave of the
pandemic last year, has been forced to tighten restrictions to
combat a surge in cases over recent months, with hospitals in the
worst affected areas around Athens struggling to cope.
Mitsotakis expressed appreciation for the joint purchasing of
vaccines by the European Commission, which has helped smaller states
such as Greece.
"But at the same time it failed in getting the necessary quantities
and supplying member states promptly," he said in a speech to
parliament.
With the summer tourist season fast approaching, vital for Greece's
economy, the government is counting on a beefed-up testing campaign,
including home test kits, to curb the virus but Mitsotakis said
vaccinations would also be increased in the next few weeks.
Greece, with a population of around 10 million, has administered
nearly 1.7 million COVID shots so far and will complete another 1.5
million by the end of April. Everyone over 60 should have had at
least one shot by the end of May, he said.
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 The European Commission has
come under fire over its handling of the
vaccines rollout and has been engaged in bitter
recriminations with Anglo-Swedish drugs maker
AstraZeneca, which has delivered only a fraction
of the vaccines originally expected.
"The European Union is obliged... to use all the
legal tools to force companies which have signed
agreements with the bloc to respect their
contractual obligations," including banning
exports, Mitsotakis said, backing the
Commission, which has said vaccine exports would
be blocked until AstraZeneca delivers the shots
it promised to the EU.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Lefteris
Papadimas; writing by James Mackenzie; Editing
by Gareth Jones)
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