ATHENS – Students who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 won't be allowed into classrooms when the school year begins in the autumn as the New Democracy government steps up its push for people to be protected.

Deputy Education Minister Angelos Syrigos, a university professor, told Mega TV that all the details haven't been worked out but that no vaccination means no going to class and that shots for students could become mandatory.

“There will be no remote lessons again,” he said, adding that “the amphitheaters will be open for those who have been vaccinated or have a certificate of recovery” from the Coronavirus.

Officials at the University of Athens have recommended having vaccination centers on site, an idea which is being mulled for other colleges as well although there's resistance from the major opposition SYRIZA to mandatory vaccinations.

SYRIZA leader and former premier Alexis Tsipras, who was among the first to be vaccinated, has a hard-core element of anti-vaxxers in his party and while he said he backs vaccinations he doesn't want them to be a requirement and wants the unvaccinated to have the same privileges as those who are inoculated.