Vaccination rate in Mt. Athos picking up pace

The director of the regional health clinic at Karyes expects that by the end of May over 500 monks, out of a general population of about 4,000, will have been vaccinated in the autonomous monastic polity in Northern Greece. 

“There is great interest by the monks in the vaccination” said Konsantinos Dokouslis to Kathimerini describing the difficulties of organizing the vaccination drive, including the harsh terrain of the ecclesiastical polity and the recent inclement weather. 

However, there is also some difficulty in persuading part of the population who either do not believe that the coronavirus even exists or that the whole affair is the “devil’s work.” 

There are however more sober voices lending their support to the vaccination drive.

“If we attribute medical advancements to the devil, the gift given by God to humans for the discovery of healing methods, we are probably committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The coronavirus is real and so are its consequences” said the canon of the Esphigmenou Monastery, Vartholomaios. 

The efforts of civil governor Athanasios Martinos are recognized by the ecclesiastical authorities who also praise the doctors and staff of the Karyes Health Center for the organized implementation of the vaccine drive.