Digital Covid Certificates have been a challenge foreign residents of Greece. Credit: lucas Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.The EU Digital Covid Certificate, that went live on Tuesday, is inaccessible to legal foreign residents in Greece.Hundreds of foreigners who have Greek residency permits have complained across social media groups that they are getting bounced from the…
Αssociated Press
A nurse prepares the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 as the local resident Nikos Gavalas looks on at a vaccination center on the tiny Aegean island of Iraklia, Greece, Thursday, May 13, 2021.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) 5/23/2021 TNH Staff
ATHENS – As Greece touts its accelerating COVID-19 vaccination program dubbed Eleftheria (Freedom) most foreign residents are finding it next to impossible to register for a shot despite many being in vulnerable elderly groups.
Especially concerned are European pensioners who moved to Greece for a simpler and cheaper way of life and now feel outside a system they said has isolated them even as the New Democracy government said its wants to inoculate at least 70 percent of the population of 10.7 million – or 7.49 million people – to slow the pandemic.
âThe system isnât workingâ: the expats in Greece who canât book Covid jabs
In a country where the inoculation drive is linked to ownership of a social security number, many have slipped through the net
Hydra island, where many overseas residents say that they have been unable to book a vaccine appointment without a social security number. Photograph: Anton Petrus/Getty Images
Hydra island, where many overseas residents say that they have been unable to book a vaccine appointment without a social security number. Photograph: Anton Petrus/Getty Images
Tue 20 Apr 2021 00.00 EDT
Last modified on Tue 20 Apr 2021 00.01 EDT
To the Editor:
The Greek government has made a grave oversight that affects tens if not hundreds of thousands of legal residents in Greece who are ineligible for the COVID vaccine, a situation that endangers not only us, but the entire Greek population.
Without a Greek social security (AMKA) number, there is no possibility of obtaining an appointment for the vaccine. Tens of thousands of legal residents: Golden Visa holders and their families (70,000 residents); as well as students, retirees and digital nomads from outside the EU, and other classes of residents without work permits, cannot get in line for the vaccine.