Of the over 300,000 Greeks who have been fined by the Greek tax authority for being unvaccinated in contravention of the mandatory order, just 14 per cent have actually paid their fines by the deadline.
A total of 317,962 Greeks over the age of 60 have been notified by the Greek tax agency to pay the €50 fine for the month of January when the government implemented its vaccine mandate for all residents above 60 years old.
According to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), however, only 44,000 people have actually paid the fine by the deadline of March 15th, just 14 per cent of the total, and those with outstanding fines could face additional penalties, newspaper Ekathimerini reports.
The €50 fine for January was followed by a €100 fine in February as the mandate did not come into effect until halfway through the month of January and so the government reduced the fine amount accordingly.
Those who refuse to pay the fine could face possible seizure of assets, according to the newspaper, while others have made attempts to challenge the legality of the mandates and the fines associated with them in Greek courts.
Last week, the Greek government announced that it would be suspending the vaccine mandate for people over 60 in mid-April but noted that anyone with outstanding fines as a result of being unvaccinated would still have to pay them.
The government did not rule out reimplementing the mandates, however, stating that it would re-examine the policy in September, according to Health Minister Thanos Plevris, who also stated that a committee of experts was advising the government on lifting more coronavirus restrictions.
Greece is one of only a handful of European countries that have enacted vaccine mandates on those over a certain age, such as Italy where the vaccine mandate on those over the age of 50 is set to remain in force until mid-June, while other measures and restrictions are expected to be dropped by here end of May.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.