ATHENS – For months after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020, Dr. Sotiris Tsiodras, a profess and infectious diseases specialist, was a soothing fixture on Greek TV, delivering data and calm at the same time.

Now New Democracy Thanos Plevris is rejecting media reports the government had effectively benched Tsiodras while it’s concentrating on an economic recovery as deaths are jumping to record levels.

Tsiodras is a key member of the government’s advisory panel of physicians, professors and scientists, whose recommendations have more and more been set aside as the government pursues a financial comeback as the virus lingers.

“The regular briefing of the political leadership of the Ministry of Health is continued by Professor Sotiris Tsiodras, who, of course, has full access to all epidemiological data in the country. Any report alleging that access to the data has been blocked is completely inaccurate,” Plevis said in a statement.

That came as Tsiodras again headed a briefing on the course of the pandemic and as the government has again eased health restrictions while not requiring mandatory shots for all, allowing anti-vaxxers to keep spreading the disease.