Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, proposed on Wednesday that the EU’s executive arm make having a booster shot against COVID-19 a condition for some Europeans to travel freely across the bloc, amid a resurgence in infections.
Mitsotakis has written a letter to European Commission (EC) head, Ursula von der Leyen, to propose that a COVID vaccine booster dose be considered for citizens over 60 years old.
Such a measure, Mitsotakis said in his letter, must be reflected in the European digital certificate and in the delegated act concerning the validity period of the European digital certificate that the EC plans to adopt this week.
“Such a policy initiative will help our health systems to cope more efficiently with a heavy winter of hospitalisations but also to sustain control over the virus and pandemic without moving to new horizontal restrictions that would put in jeopardy the recovery of our economies and the freedom of movement,” Mitsotakis wrote.
“I believe that mandating the third dose as part of the certification of vaccination for citizens over 60 would be an important step in our fight against the pandemic.”
This request comes after COVID-19 cases continue to remain high in Greece with health authorities announcing 7,108 new cases and 93 deaths in the country on Wednesday.
Source: Ekathimerini.
