ATHENS – The obligatory vaccination and the validity period of the second dose of the vaccination certificates will be re-evaluated and announcements will be made after the New Year, Health Minister Thanos Plevris said speaking on Thursday to SKAI TV.

Plevris left open the possibility of the second dose vaccination certificate to be valid for seven months. He also left also open the possibility for the extension of the obligatory vaccination for people aged over 50.

On the unvaccinated, he said that the government is examining the possibility of banning their access to outdoor areas explaining that it is something that the epidemiologists have already requested.

Referring to the ‘Omicron’ variant, he reiterated that its contagiousness is very high among younger ages. “Only 6 percent of the infections concern people aged over 60. Our wager is not to be transferred from the young ones to the elderly”, Plevris said.

He said that the infections from the ‘Omicron’ variant are expected to skyrocket very soon noting that “the issue is how many of the people infected will need to be admitted to hospital”.

On the new restriction measures that are in effect from today, he said that we do not speak of long-term measures and estimated that there will be no need for an extension of the measures as the ‘Omicron’ cycle will be probably short.