PM says compulsory vaccination in Greece constitutional

Vaccinations against COVID-19 can be made compulsory in Greece, according to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

This is not unconstitutional as vaccination opponents had repeatedly claimed, Mitsotakis said on Friday.
“The state is entitled to require all citizens to fulfill their duty of social and national solidarity,’’ he said.

He added that this was stated in Article 25 of the Greek constitution and thus compulsory vaccination was in line with the constitution.

There had been demonstrations by anti-vaccination activists in Athens and other cities in Greece in recent days.

They argued that compulsory vaccination was not in line with the constitution.

Among the demonstrators were numerous right-wing extremists and religious zealots.

In some cases, riots broke out with police using tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd.

On Thursday, the conservative government had enforced by law that only vaccinated people were allowed to be indoors in restaurants and cultural institutions.

In addition, workers in the health sector must be vaccinated.

Otherwise, they could be suspended from work and would then not receive any money as long as they were not vaccinated.

In the private sector, employers were allowed to require their employees to be vaccinated. Otherwise, they too can be dismissed.