Medical staff not vaccinated against Covid-19 returned to work on Monday in Greece, sixteen months after their suspension, the Hellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN) announced in a press release.
This return of some 2,000 caregivers to public hospitals and ambulance services follows a decision by the Council of State, the highest administrative court, which forced the government to lift the ban. The reintegration of these carers constitutes “a big breath for the system, but the problem of understaffing remains», Underlined the POEDIN.
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Some 5,000 others, also unvaccinated, had already been able to resume or continue their professional activity because of a medical certificate attesting, for example, that they had already contracted the virus. In Greece, vaccination became compulsory for staff in retirement homes in August 2021 and for caregivers two weeks later, giving rise to opposition demonstrations.
The anti-vaccination movement has seen a definite boom in a country that suffered strict confinements in 2020 and 2021, to the point that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis assured at the end of 2021 that Greece was facing “an unvaccinated pandemic“. Most Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted in Greece, except in health facilities and public transport. But in the metros, buses or trams, most travelers have no mask despite the obligation to wear one.