Marinakis: The government is doing as the experts advise; no approved vaccine for sheep pox

Talking about the issue of sheep pox and vaccination on SKAI television on Wednesday, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said the situation was not being presented as it really was.

Concerning the furore surrounding a letter from the European Commission, he noted that the contents of the letter had been unveiled by Rural Development and Foods Minister Kostas Tsiaras and actually said the opposite of what was being claimed.

According to Marinakis, the erstwhile anti-vaxxers who had strenuously opposed vaccination for humans during the pandemic were now using almost the exact same arguments to fanatically push for the vaccination of animals.

"And here I would open a parenthesis - there are some very big interests behind vaccination, which we must examine when their time comes," he added.

According to the spokesperson, the reality was that "there is no officially approved vaccine, either in Greece nor in Europe, for sheep and goat pox. In addition, no country in Europe - even if we grant that there is a bad, ruthless government here that does not listen to reason - has adopted the tactic of vaccination. With the exception of Bulgaria, which did so for a time, with a vaccine not approved by Europe, and has now stopped this practice."

Marinakis went on to explain that the choices made by the government adopt the recommendations of the experts, the special scientific committee, because there is no approved vaccine and because a decision to vaccinate would lead to very bad results relative to the tactic adopted, which is one of containment, inspections and reducing the spread of the disease. He noted that the disease was now at the lowest point of its curve in terms of the number of cases and that an intensive effort was now needed, in collaboration with regional authorities, to eradicate it.