Greek Interior Minister Makis Voridis has announced that civil servants who refuse to take the now-mandatory Wuhan coronavirus vaccine will be disciplined.
Minister Voridis stated on Thursday that civil servants would be referred to a disciplinary board if they refused to take the vaccine. The disciplinary council would then decide if the employee would be fired.
“Under current law, there is a legal obligation and, in some professions, employers and employees are required to meet certain health requirements. The employer has a responsibility,” Mr Voridis said, the newspaper I Kathimerini reports.
“When vaccination becomes mandatory, those who do not comply with the obligation enter into a process in which they have violated their legal obligations,” he added and stated: “Or anyone who refuses to comply with their contractual obligations, the disciplinary procedure will be activated.”
Greece’s move to make vaccinations mandatory for certain jobs comes as French President Emmanuel Macron also announced that those working in certain fields, such as caregivers or firefighters, will be mandated to take the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine as well.
During a television address to the French nation, Macron justified the move saying that vaccination was a “matter of individual responsibility… but also a matter of our freedom.”
French Health Minister Olivier Véran added that those workers who refuse to take the mandatory vaccine “will no longer be able to work and will no longer be paid”.
The United Kingdom has just made vaccines mandatory for care home staff, promoting some to warn of an impending human rights and civil liberty struggle.
Greece, like France, has also announced recent measures to encourage more people, particularly younger people, to take the vaccine.
One scheme — the “freedom pass” is a prepaid card of €150 (£129/$178) — is offered to anyone between the ages of 18 and 25 to try and boost vaccination numbers.
“This is a debt to our youth, a gift of gratitude, particularly ahead of the summer. [It is] a ‘thank you’ for their patience and perseverance,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said as he announced the scheme last month.