Greece
Rush to vaccination appointments: Greece decides to have vaccinations for over 60 year olds
“Nine out of ten Greeks who [an Covid-19] die are over 60 years old, eight out of ten are not vaccinated, “said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in parliament.
© IMAGO / ANE Edition
Around 20,000 older Greeks made an appointment for the first vaccination within one day – ten times as many as usual. Prior to this, Prime Minister Mitsotakis had announced that vaccinations would be compulsory for people over 60.
In Greece, around 20,000 older people made an appointment for their first vaccination from Tuesday to Wednesday – that’s a good ten times as many as the previous daily average. These figures were named by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in parliament on Wednesday.
The sharp increase followed his announcement on Tuesday that people over 60 will have to be vaccinated in the future. From January 16, 2022 fines are due, and unvaccinated people in this age group have to pay a fine of 100 euros per month – a considerable sum considering that the average pension in Greece is 730 euros per month.
“It is an act of justice for the vaccinated”
“It is not a punishment,” Mitsotakis said in a televised meeting of his cabinet. “I would say it is the price of health. It is also an act of justice for those who are vaccinated. It is not right for them to be deprived of health services because others adamantly refuse to do the obvious.”
“Nine out of ten Greeks who [an Covid-19] die, are over 60 years old, eight out of ten are not vaccinated “, the Greek Prime Minister justified the measure in parliament. If these people remained unprotected, they put a disproportionate burden on the health system because they were more at risk. Older people in particular, however, are reluctant to vaccinate , In November, of this group of 580,000 people, only 70,000 would have opted for a vaccination.
Vaccination rate at 61 percent
Greece is the first EU country to require an age group to be vaccinated. More than 7,500 infections, hundreds of hospitalizations and 88 deaths were recorded in Greece on Tuesday alone. According to the Johns Hopkins University, only around 61 percent of Greeks have been fully vaccinated so far.
sources: dpa, NPR