Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Giorgos Koukoumas on vaccinations and rapid test issue

 

23 July 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Vaccination is the only way to definitively defeat the pandemic, save human lives and put an end to all kinds of restrictive measures that are burdening and exhausting people’s psychological condition, society and economic life. AKEL once again addresses an appeal to everyone to proceed with vaccination in order to protect ourselves and our fellow human beings. Vaccines are a product of accumulated scientific knowledge and a weapon in humanity’s hands which, in the past, has saved millions of lives and eradicated numerous diseases.

At the same time, AKEL makes it clear that it does not support either the imposition of compulsory vaccination or any measures and rationales that refer to force whether directly or indirectly vaccination. On the contrary, the government ought – and still needs – to organise a serious information and awareness-raising campaign to address people’s concerns and worries about vaccination. In this effort, the scientific community and the country’s medical community must be tapped into so that every citizen can, if possible, be informed individually. It is primarily the government’s responsibility to work so that the polarization within society around this issue is overcome.

It should be self-evident, of course, that citizens who choose not to be vaccinated need to continue to take all personal protection measures in order to protect themselves and those around them. At the same time, unanswered questions remain in relation to the government’s decision to end free rapid testing. Workers and citizens from low-income strata will obviously be at a disadvantage. In addition, the abolition of free rapid tests means that they cannot be used, at least to the same extent, as a preventive measure against the spread of the pandemic, at a time when in fact there is an outbreak in the number of cases. In view of the progress of the vaccination programme, AKEL calls on the government to suspend and re-evaluate its relevant decision on rapid tests.

AKEL had and still supports the position that the fight against the pandemic can and must continue under the compass of scientific guidelines with respect for individual rights and freedoms and with individual and social responsibility and solidarity.