The President of the Hellenic Medical Society of Australia (HMSA) Assoc Professor Marinis Pirpiris
24 July 2021 12:17pm
In the wake of the latest lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders of Melbourne’s Greek community have come together to encourage people to get vaccinated.
A collective of community organisations have come together to call and encourage our community to step up and get vaccinated.
The President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) Bill Papastergiadis OAM called not only for the support of other organisations but of all Greek Australians: “Whilst I appreciate people’s apprehension, there is simply no doubt that the only way out of this pandemic mess is through vaccination. Our borders will only open when we are vaccinated. Our lives will only return to resemble something like the ones we enjoyed once we are vaccinated. This is the message of all of our scientific experts and political leaders.”
Greek Australian doctors are working to combat the sluggish pace of the vaccine rollout in the wake of statistics which show that only 13 per cent of Australia’s eligible population are fully vaccinate, and 25.3 per cent are partially vaccinated.
Associate Professor Marinis Pirpiris, President of the Hellenic Medical Society of Australia, was particularly concerned regarding misinformation circulating on social media and has spearheaded a campaign to inform community groups of the need to protect themselves.
“We wanted to commence an initiative to make people more informed about the need for a vaccination, and their ability to have their questions answered by their GPs,” he told