ATHENS — Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas on Friday said that Greece's vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus was now "very far from being mass-scale" and could not conceal the government's indecision and huge responsibility, speaking during the parliamentary debate on the pandemic on the level of party leaders.

He roundly dismissed the government's argument that Greece was "doing better than other European countries," in response to being confronted over not taking more measures to support the national health system or to protect health in place of work, public transport, schools and universities.

"In all countries, the people are experiencing the results of a policy of commercialisation and privatisation in the health sector, which in our country you have all without exception, followed," Koutsoumbas said, noting that European governments, including that of Greece, were not handling the pandemic based on the needs of their people but on the needs of their business groups.

He said the government has converted the national health system to a "one-disease system" with the inevitable repercussions this had on overall health needs.

Koutsoumbas also accused the government's planning to make sweeping changes that roll back labour and trade union rights in the midst of the pandemic.