Greece says no plan to expand mandatory vaccinations
A day after Greece logged a record number of daily Covid-19 cases, the government on Wednesday ruled out an expansion of mandatory vaccination against the virus, which already applies to all health care workers in the private and public sector as well as to workers in care homes for the elderly.
Speaking on Skai TV, government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou said that the case for compulsory vaccination is not borne out by scientific data. He added that such a measure would have to be coupled with sanctions for non-compliance.
Oikonomou also ruled out horizontal measures for the country’s vaccinated population. “That would be a step backwards,” he said.
Speaking of the new measures announced Tuesday, the spokesman said they are aimed at pushing the unvaccinated to get the shot. “Their life will become easier if they do so,” he explained.
The daily infection rate of the coronavirus smashed a new record Tuesday with a staggering 6,700 confirmed cases, the highest since the pandemic began. It was the second consecutive day of record-high infection numbers, breaking Monday’s single-day record of 5,449 cases. Another 59 people died from coronavirus Tuesday over the previous day, taking the total to 16,050 among 754,451 Covid-19 cases.
