ATHENS – With most people returning to a near-normal life and ignoring health measures – and anti-vaxxers spreading COVID-19 – a fourth wave of the pandemic will sweep over Greece, a top health official said. The warning came from Health Ministry Secretary-General for Primary Health Care Marios Themistokleous who struggled to explain why, if that’s the case, that the New Democracy has eased, not tightened, health restrictions.

“The economy, society must open up. Lockdowns cannot be introduced (again)…we still have measures in place, it is not open for all, but the more we are vaccinated, the more we can return to normalcy,” he said, essentially admitting revenues have taken priority over health and saving lives. “The (only) way in medicine to get rid of or defeat a pandemic is through vaccination…so all our fellow citizens should be convinced to get vaccinated. There is no other way,” he told broadcaster ANT1.

Themistokleous also said that the National Vaccination Committee is considering approving booster shots for people under the age of 50 with those over 65 at the head of the line now. Health authorities have been reporting more than 3,000 new cases daily and a vaccination campaign that’s stalled has failed to hit a 70 percent benchmark of the population of 10.7 million, with only about 62 percent fully vaccinated.