(Bloomberg) -- Greece saw a surge in vaccine take-up, a day after the government laid out a plan to fine people over 60 who refused to get a shot.
About 20,000 vaccine appointments were booked by those above 60 years, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday in Athens. Before announcing the measure, this group was booking about 2,000 appointments a day.
Mitsotakis told lawmakers he'd rather be deemed “strict” while at the same time “right.”
Those who refuse to get vaccinated will have to pay a fine of 100 euros ($114) each month they don't get jabbed, starting on Jan. 16, with the penalty to be collected by tax authorities. The funds will be given to hospitals fighting the pandemic.
Before the new measure was set out by the government, only 60,000 of the 580,000 unvaccinated Greeks over 60 had received the vaccine in November. Greece's vaccination ratio in this group is around 83% compared to Portugal's 98%.
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