Greek government spokesperson Ioannis Ikonomou announced that from September 1 all unvaccinated health workers will be suspended.
He said that the coming weeks are critical in the fight against COVID-19 and that experts say that the most effective weapon is vaccinations and self-diagnostic tests.
The spokesperson pointed out that according to official data, on June 27, ie one day before the measure was implemented, only 130,000 people aged 18-25 were vaccinated, meaning 86.4% of their total population were unvaccinated.
By August 23, 410,000 people in that age bracket had vaccinated or made their first appointment to vaccinate.
Of these, about 310,000 had used the freedom pass, for which 33.7 million euros had been allocated.
Ikonomou said it was encouraging that appointments had increased since mid-August but added that another 1 million people had to be vaccinated to build the immune wall.
"At the same time, the government is using every fruitful proposal, every fruitful idea to convince and encourage them to facilitate our unvaccinated fellow citizens," he said. "In other words, to take advantage of the vaccination that science has given us."
The spokesperson said that the law will be implemented in full against healthcare workers and will start from Wednesday.
The deadline for health workers in public and private hospitals to be vaccinated expires on September 1.
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