Thousands of Greeks protested against compulsory vaccination of health workers | Government to suspend contracts for health workers who are not vaccinated

Thousands of people demonstrated in Greece on Sunday against the compulsory vaccination of health workers which will take effect next Wednesday. Faced with the advance of coronavirus infections the Greek government has decided to suspend the contracts of health workers who are not vaccinated against covid-19, a decision that generated the immediate repudiation of the public hospital health workers union, Poedin. More than 5.7 million of Greece’s 10.7 million people are fully immunized, although There are concerns about the spread of the Delta variant in the country.

“We are not against vaccines, but against fascism” and “Long live democracy!It was read on the banners of the demonstrators, who also carried Greek flags. Those mobilized demanded more hiring of staff and increased investments in public health. The steps had their epicenter on Syntagma Square in the center of Athens.

“It’s amazing that I’m suspended from work because I refuse to get the vaccine, while for months I have helped contain the epidemic, working under very difficult conditions, ”he said Christos Bakakios, ambulance driver. For Lina, a nurse who requested anonymity, “The Greek health system will collapse if health workers who refuse to be vaccinated are put on short-time work”. “The hospitals are already overcrowded, it would make no sense,” he said.

According to the president of the Poedin union, Mijalis Yannakos, 79% of health workers in public hospitals are already vaccinated and 11% have antibodies to have beaten the disease. Yannakos suggested that instead of suspending the contracts of the unvaccinated, they should be convinced to get vaccinated.

“It’s a moral issue”, said the Minister of Health, Vasilis Kikilias, in an interview with the SKAI television channel. In addition, government spokesman Yannis Ikonomu told a press conference that Executive examines expansion of categories of workers for whom covid-19 vaccination will be mandatory.

Since August 16, workers in nursing homes have been required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. From September 13 until March 31, all workers in the public and private sectors who have not been vaccinated must undergo, alone and at the cost of ten euros, one or two weekly tests depending on the job they are doing. exercise.

With all of this, the government is trying to speed up the vaccination rate, which from about 100,000 vaccinations per day in early summer fell to 20,000 or less by mid-August. Thus, Greece wants to vaccinate at least a million additional people to get closer to the vaccination rates of countries like Spain or Portugal.

Last week, the Greek government announced that theaters, cinemas, archaeological sites or museums can only continue to accept unvaccinated people if they show a negative test carried out within 48 hours of the visit.

Since the start of the pandemic, Greece has recorded 570,077 infections and 13,509 deaths from covid-19. In recent weeks, the European country has seen a strong rebound in cases, which is once again testing hospital resistance, especially on islands like Crete, or some intensive care units are already 90 percent occupied.