ATHENS – Rabid anti-vaxxers or those just afraid to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are spreading the Coronavirus in Greece, where only about 60 percent of the population is fully protected.

That’s short of the 70 percent benchmark needed to beat back the pandemic but Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, apart from making shots mandatory for health care workers, hasn’t moved to extend it to other public workers even as the virus has resurged.

Combined with those already taking shots, the total in Greece of those willing to be vaccinated is 81 percent, with 11 percent hesitant and 8 percent opposed, including those who don’t believe the shots are safe or effective or are part of an international conspiracy to alter their DNA and control their mind.

Those were the findings of a poll by Focus Bari/YouGuv nationwide sampling that revealed the young, 18-44 years old, are the most vehement opponents of the vaccine that has worked against the pandemic.

The percentage of those who reject the vaccine has declined continuously from 20 percent in January-February 2021, to 15 percent in April, 13 percent in June and 8 The percentage of those who are vaccine hesitant shrank from 43 percent in February to 31 percent in April, 20 percent in June and 8 percent in October.