Tsipras: Government failed to persuade a 40 pct of the population to get vaccinated

The main opposition party leader was welcomed by the hospital's general director Nikos Antonakis, who told Tsipras that all 15 Covid-19 intensive care unit beds are occupied, while 4 patients are on ventilators in regular wards but are waiting for an ICU bed either at Ippokratio or at another hospital.

In statements at the hospital, Tsipras said that new daily infections have now doubled compared to the same month last year, "paving the way for a hard winter ahead." The government "should also try to help stop the dangerous notion which it is disseminating to Greek society that we are experiencing is a pandemic of the unvaccinated," which he called "totally racist" against the 40 pct of people who have chosen not to be vaccinatedinoculated. Tsipras added that although these people "are responsible for the fact they are unvaccinated, it has to be said that the government is also responsible because it failed to persuade them otherwise."

A 20 pct of patients treated in Covid-19 clinics are vaccinated, Tsipras noted citing information he said he was given during his visit at Ippokratio, and there is also a percentage of vaccinated patients in Covid-19 ICUs too, he added, which means that "we all ought to be more careful, wear our masks, and not behave as if the pandemic is over once we are vaccinated."

Tsipras also underlined that 18 intensive care beds have been donated by the 'Greece 2021' Commitee to Thessaloniki, but they cannot yet be put into use due to staff shortages.

"Why did the government fail to realize the need to hire more specialized doctors and health workers, during the two years of the pandemic?" Tsipras pointed out.

Source: ana-mpa