Greece COVID-Related Deaths Surging Despite 63% Vax Rate

Greece is facing its fifth and deadliest wave of the pandemic, with unprecedented numbers of people testing positive and the number of COVID-related deaths soaring. Last Monday, the daily number of cases hit a record 7,335 — the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a Euronews report.

Photo Insert: Anti-vaxxers and disdain for authority are thought to be the main culprits causing the spike.

Yet unlike other European countries facing a spike in cases, Greece has a relatively high overall vaccination rate of around 63 percent. A region-by-region comparison, however, shows wildly fluctuating rates in different parts of the country. In the north, for example, the percentage is well below 50 percent.

Vaccination skepticism, conspiracy theories, and a disdain for authority are thought to be the main culprits. Members of the anti-vaccine movement in Greece are exceptionally vocal and have not hesitated to take matters to the street.

In the summer, thousands protested continuously against state-supported vaccination in the capital of Athens and the second-largest city, Thessaloniki, among other places.

Police in Thessaloniki used teargas and water cannons to keep some 1,000 protesters from disrupting a speech by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in mid-September after the government announced that failing to adhere to mandatory vaccination for all health workers by September would result in suspension from work.

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