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The demographic groups, which determine the ages first to be vaccinated against swine flu, came officially out. Over 110 000 Greeks have been infected with the new virus until now. Experts believe that this number is small and it will increase during the winter months.

The chairwoman of the Flu Commission Eleni Giamarelou announced that the vaccine will be put after the patient signs an agreement declaration. The text of the declaration is not set yet but there are already sharp reactions against this measure. Mrs. Giamarelou explained that this tactic is applied every time when a new medicine is used. But this measured made Greek media doubt in the safety of the vaccine. The chairwoman of the commission elaborated that Greece will not follow America’s footsteps, where if there are side effects as a result of the vaccine, people cannot seek responsibility from the pharmaceutical companies.

The Greek Pediatric Association summons a congress on October 10, where different scientists will report their researches and the association will be able to make a decision of whether to recommend the swine flu vaccine or not.  For now it is believed that for children not suffering from chronic diseases the silicoses vaccine combined with classic flu vaccine will be enough.

The first vaccines will be given to small children, who have reached 6 months and are suffering from illnesses, which can aggravate their health if they catch swine flu. Besides them, priority will have women up to three months pregnant; doctors and nurses. The second stage of the immunization will include healthy people between 14 and 40 years of age. For now the vaccines are enough for the more vulnerable groups.

Mrs. Giamarelou pointed out that it is important for pregnant women to get vaccinated, because if they catch swine flu, in a period of 24 hours they can get pneumonia, the flu will develop very fast and the danger of them having to be admitted to a hospital will be four times as big.  In the US 15% of the people who died from swine flu were pregnant.

When it comes to closing schools the decision was that a class can terminate its lessons only if one in five students have gotten sick. If there are infected students in two or three classes, then the school will close.