A. Skertsos: How we managed the pandemic

The Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, gave an account of the government management during the two-year health crisis of the pandemic.

In particular, as Mr. Skertsos states, “the suspension of the obligation to use a mask in all areas of social cohesion – except for health structures and MMMs – from June 1, coincides with the completion of about two years since the outbreak of the pandemic that seems to be turning into an endemic problem now.

So it’s a good time to take a sober look at how we managed to manage this unprecedented global health crisis, and not just it.

– According to the World Health Organization, Greece is in the 12th best position in the EU-27 in the index of total excessive mortality from each cause of death in the two years of the pandemic.

– We managed to vaccinate 75% of the total population of the country, a much higher percentage than the wider region, and at the same level as the EU average.

– We have more than doubled the intensive care units of the national health system that are now approaching the European average, we have hired 18,500 permanent and emergency health workers and we have implemented a well-organized vaccination campaign that re-introduced the primary health care in our country.

– Our economy in 2021 had the 3rd highest growth rate in Europe and the largest decrease in unemployment.

– Due to the pandemic, we accelerated the digitization of the state with 1000 new digital services and over 500 million digital transactions of citizens with the state.

Greece’s good performance in dealing with the pandemic is also due to the innovative policies we have adopted, some of which were “firsts” not only for our country but also for Europe.

Let me remind you a few:

– We opened the borders for tourists as early as June 2020 with the use of Eva, an advanced algorithm for targeted controls at entry points

– We were one of the first countries in Europe to provide more than 125 million free self-diagnostic tests as of April 2021.

– We have created the digital platform emvolio.gov.gr, through which citizens can book their appointments for the coronavirus vaccine in one of the 1,100 vaccination centers in Greece, with sms confirmation – reminder of the appointment.

– We have organized at least 55,000 vaccination home visits for people with mobility problems and vaccinations in remote mountainous and island areas of Greece.

– With a proposal of the Greek government to the European Council, the European digital vaccination certificate was introduced, which was adopted by at least 37 countries, facilitating travel in 2021.

– We have introduced special incentives for young people to be vaccinated, such as the prepaid Freedom Pass card – a € 150 digital check for 18-25 year olds immediately after the first dose vaccination – and the provision of a free mobile data card for 15-17 year olds including of free 50 GB.

– Greece was among the first EU countries to impose the use of a special digital application to control access to indoor facilities (COVID Free-App) from July 2021.

– From September 2021, we have made vaccination mandatory for health workers and nursing home employees. And since December 2021 we have made vaccination mandatory for citizens over 60

– We were the first country in the EU to provide the possibility of vaccination with a booster dose to citizens over 18 years of age and we adopted the interval of three months between the 2nd and 3rd dose.

– Together with France, we were the first countries to make the booster dose a prerequisite for citizens aged 60+ to be considered fully vaccinated after 7 months, and one of the first countries in Europe to vaccinate children aged 5-11.

– We were among the European countries that proposed and succeeded in creating the European fund for recovery and resilience, we got the most resources in the EU (over 30 billion euros) based on population and GDP, while the plan we submitted with more than 170 large public investments and reforms were among the first to be adopted and are already being implemented, receiving very positive feedback from the Commission.

With the second oldest – and therefore most vulnerable – population in Europe, one of the weakest public health systems due to years of underfunding and an economy shattered by the 10-year debt crisis, Greece could be a negative example of Covid’s failed management. The pandemic could have devastated our country, our population and our economy. But that did not happen. Based on the possibilities and the available resources we managed to do better than expected and definitely better than most EU countries.

We grieve for those and what we lost and we do not forget anyone. “But we finally came out stronger from the pandemic and we use what we have learned during these two years.”