Vaccine skepticism is expected to have an adverse impact on the country’s overall inoculation program and public health, warned Sotiris Tsiodras, the head of the Hellenic Society for Infectious Diseases.
VACCINE
The Health Ministry has set up a task force to increase the number of people getting vaccinated against measles, following an outbreak in Romania, while more than 3,000 cases have been reported, in France, the United Kingdom and Austria.
The National Organization for Public Health (EODY) in Greece is preparing a plan to prevent a potential measles epidemic through targeted vaccinations.
Greece’s government announced on Wednesday that it will scrap the fines imposed on elderly individuals who were not vaccinated against Covid-19 during the peak of the pandemic.
The Panhellenic Medical Association called on people over the age of 60 and healthcare workers to get vaccinated against the flu and Covid-19, noting that from the middle of December to March authorities report the highest number of respiratory infections.
One hundred and seventy six health workers are seeking 8.8 million euros in damages from the 19 members of the Plenary of the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, under then-president Dimitris Skaltsounis, who rejected their plea for exemption from obligatory vaccination by a majority vote.
The platform for appointments to get the updated Covid-19 vaccine is set to open on Monday, when Deputy Health Minister Eirini Agapidaki and National Immunization Committee President Maria Theodoridou will also speak about which population groups are advised to get the shot and what it covers. The vaccine has been updated to target the XBB […]
Government rescue workers began to reach some devastated mountain villages in Morocco on Monday, but many more settlements were waiting desperately for help, three days after the country was hit by the strongest earthquake in the area in more than a century.
EU regulators have recommended authorizing an updated Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech which targets the dominant XBB.1.5 variant of Omicron, putting it on track to become the third adapted shot by the two companies to be approved in the bloc.
Updated vaccines targeting the Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus are expected in the United States in late September and in Greece by mid-fall, Theodora Psaltopoulou, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Athens, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).
Only a very small percentage of boys in Greece have received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Despite the fact that this vaccine is one of the two for cancer prevention, less than one in 10 boys aged 9 and older have had it.
The World Health Organization has tailored its Covid-19 vaccination recommendations for a new phase of the pandemic, suggesting that healthy children and adolescents may not necessarily need a shot but older, high-risk groups should get a booster between 6 to 12 months after their last vaccine.
Despite the intensity of influenza this winter, the number of people getting flu vaccinations in Greece remains at disproportionately low levels, health authorities have noted.
Just over 34 percent of Greek adults say they are willing to receive a booster shot against Covid-19, according to a recent survey that assessed the impact of coronavirus-related burnout on vaccination intention.
Unvaccinated health staff will return to work under strict protocols as of January 1, Health Minister Thanos Plevris said on Wednesday, telling Parliament that no legislation is required for this to occur.
Unvaccinated health workers of the National Health System (ESY) will return to work under a strict protocol that will include regular rapid testing.
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