Greece

Target communities: Migrants and refugees.
Vaccine(s): Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and Human Papilomavirus (HPV).
Description of the target community
According to UNICEF, in June 2019 an estimated 29,000 migrant children were present in Greece. The migrant/refugee crisis which started in 2015 continues to date with frequent escalations of flows occurring such as ones originating from Turkey. For instance, in March 2020 thousands of migrant refugees gathered on the Greek/Turkish land border seeking entrance into Europe. Since then and due to the COVID-19 pandemic this crisis has temporarily subsided. However, the flows show another increase as summer months draw near. According to 2019 data, about one out of three refugees in Greece are children while the female: male ratio is 1:2 (UNHCR, 2019). The majority of children are from Afghanistan (45,2%) and Syria (22,8%).
Vaccine uptake
Contextual factors:
The 29,000 migrant and refugee children present in Greece are spread over several locations across the country in different living circumstances: 60% live in urban areas (apartments, hotels, shelters for Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC, self-settled, etc.), 26% live in accommodation sites and 1% live in safe zones, and a further 13% are in Reception and Identification Centers. Being one of the countries on the outside borders of Europe, Greece has a great influx of migrant refugees seeking access to Europe. This influences the number of migrant refugee children present in the country a great deal and as long as one of the routes to Europe is via Greece, the vaccination issue among refugee children will be present.