Greece to fine over-60s for refusing Covid jabs

Greece to fine over-60s for refusing Covid jabs

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, during a television broadcast on Tuesday, November 30, announced his government’s general COVID-19 mandate. Any resident aged over 60, who refuses to get the coronavirus vaccine, will be fined €100 every month until they have had it done.

This measure is the Greek government’s response to an increase in infections in the country, along with the concerns about Omicron, the new variant that was detected first in South Africa. Fines will start being issued with effect from January 16 stated Mitsotakis, explaining that the fines would be added onto people’s tax bills.

Mr Mitsotakis said, “The new Omicron variant is a concern for us and means that we must be vigilant. Unfortunately, of the 580,000 unvaccinated of our fellow citizens over the age of 60, only 60,000 set up appointments to get vaccinated in November. But it is mainly people over 60 who require hospital treatment and sadly lose their life. These deaths are unnecessary”.

With around 25 per cent of the country still unvaccinated, this week has seen record figures, as the death toll exceeded 18,000. The level of confirmed coronavirus infections has also risen to record highs.

Firefighters and health care workers in Greece have already been subjected to vaccination mandates this summer. Those who refused to get jabbed were suspended indefinitely, without pay, from their jobs.

New lockdowns have been ruled out by the government, and ICU occupancy is allegedly near capacity across the country. The elderly are being targeted with these tough new measures says the government, in an attempt to protect the public health service, as reported by euronews.com.

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