ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece, Italy and a handful of other European Union nations began vaccinating children aged 5-11 against COVID-19 on Wednesday as EU governments braced both for a holiday season of gatherings and the quickly spreading omicron variant.
Acrobats dressed as superheroes rappelled down the walls of a hospital in Milan, Italy, as the city prepared to join the new vaccine rollout. Wearing capes and bodysuits, they stopped to greet patients through the windows at a pandemic ward and other children at a pediatric wing.
Youngsters getting their first shot in Greece were given stickers and the day off from school. Greece administered its first shots to younger children hours after authorities announced the country’s highest daily death toll of the pandemic: 130 people. Among the first to respond was Greek Education Minister Niki Kerameus.
“I won’t hide the fact that on a personal level, after having talked with doctors and receiving scientific data, our family decided to vaccinate our son, who is 5 1/2 years old,” Kerameus said before taking her son, Loukas, to get his shot at an Athens hospital.
Dr. Franco Locatelli, the head of Italy’s Superior Health Council who guided the country through the first wave of the pandemic, urged Italian families to take part in the new vaccine program, hoping to boost the country’s already high vaccination rate amid a new spike in infections.