ATHENS – After planning to offer access benefits to those who are vaccinated against COVID-19, Greece's New Democracy will let those who refuse mix with them in retail stores and shopping sites.

Deputy Interior Minister Stelios Petsas defended the decision, insisting that what's left of health measures from a lenient lockdown being largely ignored wouldn't lead to the Coronavirus spreading in the stores.

“In terms of retail, even with lower vaccination rates, the use of health protocols and the mask has prevented the virus spreading in the past. Therefore, at the moment, there is no discussion about retail, but mainly about travel and entertainment,” he told SKAI TV.

That means the unvaccinated will be restricted from indoor venues like cinemas and restaurants as the virus has spread again, faster with the emergence of the super-contagious Delta Variant from India and people defying restrictions.

“We will clearly have a greater ease of movement for the vaccinated than for the unvaccinated, who may have to increasingly stay outside as we head into the fall,” Petsas added, but he didn't say when that will happen.

The government said that it was mulling more benefits for the vaccinated as an incentive for those who are refusing to be inoculated as less than half the country's population of 10.7 million is fully protected, far less than the 70 percent needed to beat back the pandemic more effectively.