Clock ticking for unvaccinated workers at care facilities

Time is ticking for staff at care homes for seniors and the disabled as well as National Health System (ESY) employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

This is because those who have not had at least one dose of the vaccine by August 16 and September 1, respectively, will be suspended indefinitely. 

The government is putting increasing pressure on public sector workers who have not yet had their shots.

Interior Minister Makis Voridis stated on Tuesday that, depending on the epidemiological data in mid-August, the government could examine the suspension of unvaccinated civil servants who deal with the public.

Labor Minister Kostis Hatzidakis told Skai TV that he believes the employees will respond positively, adding that the “government and citizens must show the maximum degree of responsibility.”

Referring to health workers in particular, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias noted on Mega TV that they “have a supreme mission, whose cornerstone is the support and love for their fellow human beings.”

“I cannot imagine that some people working in these structures would risk their lives and the lives of the people they care for,” he said, while stressing that the number of health workers who have been vaccinated has already increased. 

By Tuesday, 88% of the ESY doctors, 74% of the nursing staff and 72% of the rest of the hospital staff had been vaccinated. However, representatives of hospital employees said that about 10,000 health workers at hospitals, health centers and Greece’s ambulance service (EKAB) have not been vaccinated.