Athens, Jan 18 (IANS): Seven in ten Greeks are willing to get vaccinated against Covid-19, according to opinion polls, as vaccination of the elderly above 85 years old started this weekend in Greece, after that of health professionals and residents of elderly care homes in recent weeks.

Some 70.1 per cent and 74 per cent of respondents in two surveys conducted for Alpha TV and Political newspaper, respectively, said they will register to get vaccinated, Xinhua news agency reported.

On December 27, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, an elderly man and a nurse were among the first to receive symbolically a dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Greece.

Doctors, nurses and some 20,000 residents of about 300 elderly care units nationwide followed.

So far over 80,000 people have been vaccinated in Greece in the mass vaccination program, according to data released by the government on Saturday evening.

The vaccination is free for all. The inoculation of the general public will begin after all vulnerable groups are vaccinated.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in Greece and some other countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Greece has been in a nationwide lockdown since November 7 in order to face the second wave of the pandemic. As the epidemiological data improved in the past two weeks, pupils of primary schools and kindergartens went back to the classroom on January 11 and the retail sector will reopen on January 18.

On Sunday evening, the Greek National Public Health Organization announced 237 new infections and 28 deaths in the last 24 hours. Since the start of the pandemic, the confirmed cases in Greece total 148,607 and the total of deaths so far is 5,469.