Thousands protest in Athens over vaccine rule

Athens: Around 7,000 people protested in central Athens on Sunday against a new rule obliging health workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19, police said.

The rule change, which came into effect on Wednesday requires all personnel working in hospitals to get vaccinated. The demonstrators waved Greek flags and brandished placards with such messages as "We are not against vaccines, but against fascism" and "Long live democracy".

"It’s amazing that I’m 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 ", said Christos Bakakios, an ambulance driver who joined the protest.

A nurse, who gave her name as Lina, said "the Greek health system will collapse if they put all the caregivers who refuse to be vaccinated on furlough". "The hospitals are already overcrowded. That would make no sense," she added.

Greece’s government on Tuesday announced an array of new restrictions and the end, next month, of free testing for those who remain unjabbed against Covid-19 in an effort to boost vaccination rates. The government took the measures in part to encourage people to get vaccinated, as the contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 takes hold.