Covid-19: in the face of an "epidemic of the unvaccinated", Greece takes new measures

A health worker standing in front of Laiko Hospital in Athens, September 1, 2021. AP - Thanassis Stavrakis

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1 min

From Monday, September 13, new binding measures relating to the Covid-19 pandemic come into force for unvaccinated people in Greece.

Public and private employees without a vaccination certificate must now undergo an antigen test for a fee per week.

For jobs linked to the public, two tests per week will be compulsory.

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With our correspondent in Athens,

Joël Bronner

As the end of summer approaches, 55% of Greece's population is now vaccinated, while Athens' stated goal is to deliver their two doses of

vaccine

 to eight out of ten citizens.

The implementation on Monday of new restrictive measures - officially announced at the end of August - thus aims to accelerate the rate of injections, which slowed down during the summer period.

From now on, and until the end of March 2022 at least, non-vaccinated employees will therefore have to perform one or two tests per week depending on their profession.

These tests must be performed in private clinics at a cost of ten euros.

This process therefore corresponds approximately to a budget of 40 or 80 euros per month per employee, in a country where the gross minimum wage is 650 euros.

"More than 90% of intensive care patients are unvaccinated"

While asserting that the new measures are " 

not punitive

 ", Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek Minister of Health, recently argued that " 

more than 90

% of patients in intensive care (...) are unvaccinated

 ".

Figures that allow him to evoke " 

an epidemic of unvaccinated

 ."

Vaccination has been compulsory for medical personnel in Greece since the beginning of September.

Some 6,000 unvaccinated caregivers have so far been suspended.

Since the start of the pandemic,

Covid-19

has claimed the lives of more than 14,000 people in Greece, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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  • Greece

  • Health and medicine

  • Coronavirus

  • Vaccines