About two to three people in Greece succumb to the latest influenza outbreak on a daily basis, raising the death toll to 64 in the past couple weeks. In most cases, the victims had not been inoculated against the flu, despite doctor recommendations.
The Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis explained that people must remain calm and seek out appropriate medical help. Mr. Georgiadis admitted that there was a shortage of anti-flu shots, as they were ordered based on last year’s milder flu outbreak, but added that the flu season is over and that divs will drop.
The Athens Medical Association announced that the lack of an inoculation policy in Greece is “criminal”, since it contributes to a significant number of people eschewing preventative inoculation due to “possible side effects”.
Due to the number of H1N1 cases, the hospital pharmacies will be handing out free anti-viral medication. Roche Hellas announced that availability of its Tamiflu anti-viral medication is uninterrupted.
