ATHENS, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines will be available to vulnerable groups in Greece as of early September, authorities announced on Monday.

The measure concerns high-risk patients like those who have undergone organ transplants and cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy among others, officials said at a press briefing.

The booster dose will further shield the most vulnerable as the effectiveness of vaccines is reduced months after the full vaccination, said Maria Theodoridou, president of the National Vaccination Committee.

It is of great importance at the same time to further increase the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated to contain the spread of the virus and avoid more admissions to hospitals, she added.

More than 5.6 million people in Greece are now fully vaccinated, which accounts for 53.5 percent of the population and 62.7 percent of the adult population, said Marios Themistocleous, general secretary at the Health Ministry, urging people to get inoculated.

To date, Greece has made COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for doctors, nurses and employees at state and private hospitals as well as facilities for the elderly. As of mid-August, those unvaccinated are suspended from work without pay.

Greece registered on Monday 2,628 new infections and 34 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the National Public Health Organization.

Meanwhile, 319 patients were on ventilators in hospitals nationwide. Admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) in the past two weeks have risen by about 30 percent, with an occupancy rate of nearly 60 percent in ICUs across the country, ministry experts said. Enditem

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