ATHENS – While 83 percent of people living in Greece have been either vaccinated against COVID-19 or made an appointment to get one, resisters and skeptics said political stances made them disbelief the shots were safe or effective or part of a conspiracy against them.

That was the finding of a survey by the firm Focus Bari for YouGov.gr that got responses from 1002 people aged 18-74, as the New Democracy government has been unable to convince anti-vaxxers to be inoculated.

Of the doubters, only 8 percent said they might get vaccinated and 9 percent said they won’t be persuaded, the resistance highest among those under 44 although the government will begin fining those over 60 at the rate of 100 euros ($114) a month if they aren’t vaccinated.

The poll, said Kathimerini, showed that 65 percent of vaccine deniers said they refuse to get the shot because they feel that they are being forced to do so, with 57 percent said it’s because the vaccines are experimental, 43 percent worried about long-term side effects and 21 percent said the pandemic isn’t real and is a fabricated hoax, even disbelieving that people are dying from it.