Greece: justice imposes the reinstatement of 6,500 non-vaccinated employees of the health sector

Nurses at a health center in Athens during the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2021 (illustrative image).

AP - Thanassis Stavrakis

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Greece will have to quickly reinstate several thousand health sector employees, who were dismissed last year because of their refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The government confirmed the court's decision on Tuesday, November 29.

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With our correspondent in Athens,

Joël Bronner

Reluctantly, the Greek Minister of Health - who speaks of a " 

dangerous decision for public health

 " - confirmed on Tuesday that the health system would comply with this recent decision of the Council of State, imposing the very soon reinstatement of these 6,500 employees. 

On a daily basis, Greek law still requires users of public transport in large cities, such as the capital Athens, to wear a protective mask on board.

Apart from the rules imposed in hospitals, it is one of the rare measures of daily life which reminds us that there is still in Greece binding legislation vis-à-vis a Covid-19.

This has for months left the rank of the main concerns in the country.

Sign of this " 

normalization

 ", things are now about to move in hospitals and health centers.

In September 2021, the Greek government took the decision to dismiss medical personnel who then refused to be vaccinated - some 7,000 people.

It is the recent extension of this vaccination obligation which was deemed unconstitutional by the Council of State a few days ago.

All non-vaccinated employees should thus be reinstated by January 1, with the obligation of regular testing.

And this, even if many of them have already been able to work again thanks to a certificate proving that they have been infected with Covid.

In total, since the start of the pandemic, some 34,000 deaths have been officially attributed to the coronavirus in Greece.

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  • Health and medicine