For the first time in two months– since the country saw a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases– Greece has re-opened schools, AFP reports. More than 850,000 children under 12 returned to education since a mass lockdown on November 16, officials said.

The Balkan country is prepared to launch a campaign to vaccinate the over-85s against coronavirus, the report continued. Greece has been under a nationwide lockdown following an infection spike in the autumn. More than 4,000 of Greece’s 5,263 reported virus deaths have been registered in the past two months. On Friday, restrictions that were supposed to end on January 11 were extended for another week.

While the European Union is battling a slow rollout of vaccinations, over 44,000 Greeks have received vaccine doses since last month, according to government data. The Minister of State, George Gerapetritis on Monday confirmed the government’s aim to hit 30,000 vaccinations per month from nearly 8,000 at present.

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The procurement of vaccination doses doesn’t seem a problem for Athens, as the authorities have already secured doses for 15 million people, more than its population of around 11 million. More than 420,000 doses will be available this month government spokesman Christos Tarantilis said.

These numbers comes as Greece’s neighbours– Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — last week complained of being left behind by the EU, on account of vaccination distribution.