The affects of the COVID-19 vaccination program to reduce daily deaths and cases will be seen in Greece very soon, even with a lower percentage of vaccinated compared to Israel, according to researchers from the Technical University of Crete.
The authors of the research are Assistant Professor George Atsalakis and researcher Vassilios Tsoumbris.
There are two reasons for this: The targeted vaccination coverage of the elderly and vulnerable groups, and the smaller number of total cases.
Up until March 27, approximately 5% of the Greek population was vaccinated with two doses, having 3,133 [new COVID-19] cases, the research stated according to Kriti 24.
"In Israel, the corresponding rate of 5% of vaccinations was reached on January 18 with 9,970 [daily] cases," the research explained.
Exactly one week later, the reduction in deaths began (25/01/2021)," the research stressed.
Based on the assumption that the pandemic in Greece follows the model of Israel, deaths are expected to decrease about a week after 5% of the population is vaccinated (March 27), just as happened in Israel, the research predicts.
In fact, Greece will not need to reach the corresponding rate of vaccinations in Israel to record a reduction in deaths.
This is due to "the effectiveness of the vaccination program in high-risk groups, and the reduced cases by 2/3 compared to Israel."
"It is also important to note that the deaths in this wave are about 40% less than in the previous wave in November," the research added.
READ MORE: Mitsotakis: Those over 60 will receive at least one COVID-19 dose by the beginning of May.
