Demonstration in Greece against compulsory vaccination of caregivers

Opponents of health measures gave voice on Sunday in Greece. About 7,000 people demonstrated in central Athens on Sunday against the compulsory vaccination of healthcare workers against the coronavirus, which comes into force on Wednesday.

The demonstrators, who had gathered in Syntagma Square, held Greek flags and waved placards on which one could read in particular: “We are not against vaccines but against fascism” and “long live democracy”. The rally was peppered with incidents on Sunday evening. A group of demonstrators threw stones and bottles at the police, who responded with tear gas.

“Hospitals are already overloaded”

“It is amazing that I am put on sick leave because I refuse to be vaccinated when for months I have helped to contain the epidemic, I have worked in very difficult conditions”, criticized Christos Bakakios, an ambulance driver. For Lina, a nurse who requested anonymity, “the Greek health system will collapse if they put all caregivers who refuse to be vaccinated on short-time work”. “The hospitals are already overloaded, it would make no sense,” she added.

The Greek government has taken steps to encourage as many people as possible to get vaccinated in the face of the spread of the Delta variant, while 99% of people on life support in hospitals are unvaccinated. Retirement home employees have already been required to be vaccinated since August 16. Ten employees of a retirement home in Volos, in the center of the country, were also suspended for refusing vaccination.

More than 5.7 million of the 10.7 million people in Greece are fully vaccinated. Greece recorded around 1,500 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, while more than 300 people were on life support in hospitals. More than 13,600 people have died from Covid-19 in the country.

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