The Ministers of Health, Vassilis Kikilias, Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis and Development, Adonis Georgiadis are announcing penalties, as well as incentives in the Greek authorities’ efforts to build a wall of immunity against Covid-19 in a press briefing.

Minister of Health Vassilis Kikilias said that all employees in the health care sector, whether health or administrative, should be vaccinated by August 16, otherwise they will be suspended and their payment will be ceased.

As he said that refusal to get vaccinated would lead to fines set, for those who violate the plan, at 50,000 euros and in case of recurrence 200,000 euros.

Vaccination is also mandatory in all health structures. By 1/09 all staff should have done the first installment. The Minister of Health advised everyone to hurry to be vaccinated.

According to Mr. Kikilias, legislation will be introduced so that public bodies can hire staff to replace those who are not vaccinated.

The Minister of Development, Adonis Georgiadis emphasised that during the two weeks that have passed since the last announcements for the separation of vaccinated and non-vaccinated, there has been an outbreak of the pandemic in our country, something that has become apparent in the international press.

As he said, this summer will be a “summer of the seated”, stressing that he recognises that to some this measure seems absurd, however, the pandemic must be contained.

Until August 31, only seated customers will be allowed in all nightclubs. As of July 16, restaurants, cinemas and theaters will only be accessible to vaccinated people with 85% coverage.

As of today, the application that will be used for the verification of vaccination certificates is available, as it emerged from what the Minister of Digital Government, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, stated during the specialisation of the measures for the compulsory vaccination.

“Covid Free GR” can be installed on any device using iOS or Android software and can be used to verify the European Digital Certificates COVID as well as the Greek certificates of gov.gr. available for free through the official account of the Hellenic Republic in the App Store and Google Play.

The application only shows the name of the certificate holder, while it does not hold or store temporary or permanent personal data or verification history. For the control and verification of the European Digital Certificates COVID, no internet connection is required, while for the Greek certificates it is required.

Yesterday, PM Mitsotakis outlined the new measures which included:

1. Immediate vaccination is mandatory for employees in nursing homes, which is the most vulnerable category (private and public), who will face work suspension from 16 August onwards if they refuse.

2. From 1 September, the vaccination for health carers in the public and private sector will be mandatory, ie:

· Doctors,

· Nurses and

· Administrative staff,

while those who refuse to participate in the vaccination campaign will initially be compelled to take their remaining leave during which period they have to get vaccinated. If they fail to do so, they will be placed in a status of obligatory leave without pay.

3. Incentives to persuade staff in the Armed Forces

Permanent personnel of the Armed Forces, as well as conscripts, although not obliged to get vaccinated at the moment, will receive incentives to get vaccinated in the units.

4. Operation of all enclosed spaces only for vaccinated. The measure concerns:

· Nightclubs

· Bars,

· Cinema and

· theaters.