“Covid doesn’t care if you have AMKA»: Α foreigner’s odyssey to get vaccinated in Greece

The irony is obvious: on the wall of the infirmary in Zagora Piliou where Rebecca Lieb received her second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, there was a photo of her home, New York. A small token of the big trip she made with her husband when they decided to move permanently to Greece. But also a reminder that she almost thought about returning there during her 5-month vaccination plight.

The vaccination of foreign residents in Greece is moving slowly. Pensioners that chose to live in our country, owners of the golden viza, workers and students, even diplomats – almost 70.000 to 100.000 people – are still waiting for their turn, when most other European countries vaccinate all their residents, not just their citizens.

Greek expats have also been excluded from “Operation Freedom”: these are Greek citizens who have lived for many years abroad and they don’t have a social security number or a tax number in our country.

It’s a problematic issue that doesn’t just concern Greece as a country that is trying to advertise itself as Covid-free in order to entice tourists. There’s also the alleged effort of the reversal of brain drain, the “Greece 2.0” plan to bring a digital revolution to the country, as well as the golden viza programme to entice foreign investors – where the country’s “good and safe” insurance and healthcare system is mentioned as an advantage.

Besides, that’s one of the reasons Rebecca Lieb and her husband chose to come to our country. Whether it’s from TV series or from the news, we have all heard how expensive healthcare in the US is.

Five months ago, when the announcement about the beginning of the vaccination scheme in Greece was made, Rebecca noted a glaring omission. There was no mention of all the foreigners – our neighbours, friends and co-workers – who live permanently in Greece.

I have AMKA, therefore I am

From that moment, she started a marathon to claim her rightful spot in the “Operation Freedom against Covid-19”.

Rebecca and her husband may have a golden viza, private security, a home in Magnisia and a tax number (AFM) to pay their taxes in Greece, but they don’t have… a social security number (AMKA).

With a quick search online, it is noticeable that our country is one of the few in the entire world that has linked vaccination with owning a social security number. In most European countries, when it’s somebody turn to get vaccinated, they just get notified about it, usually via SMS.

The Greek government tried to solve an issue by passing a law that came to effect in April, allowing foreign citizens to acquire a temporary AMKA solely for the purpose of participating in the vaccination process from the platform emvolio.gov.gr.

The problem was far from solved and it has sparked the attention of Greek expat media, as well as the Guardian who is asking to “rectify this wrong”.

Bureaucracy and waiting

If you want to be issued a temporary AMKA, there is the issue of whether you have a tax number (AFM) in Greece or not. If you don’t and try to book a vaccination appointment in the platform, the user simply gets redirected to another page that prompts them to visit a Citizens’ Service Centre (KEP) in order to acquire an… AMKA!

In the KEP, foreigners our faced with typical Greek behaviours and some good ol’ bureaucracy. Some may be immediately allocated an AMKA, others may face unhelpful employees, while others may even be sent to an EFKA office.

If you do have an AFM, the process in the online platform will move a step ahead, but there are complaints that it can take a long time to be issued a temporary AMKA. Rebecca Lieb speaks of a very slow process: her AMKA was issued after 6 weeks, while others are still waiting – months after their application.

Even if foreigners receive an AMKA, that doesn’t mean they can immediately book a vaccination appointment. This number may take weeks to be activated – in Lieb’s case nine weeks passed.

After her full vaccination with both doses, problems still arose: Rebecca received her vaccination certificate, but her husband didn’t. Guess why: yes, there was again an issue with his AMKA.

Let it be noted here that the couple managed to get vaccinated mostly thanks to their activism and raising their voice online about this issue. One day, the phone rang: someone from the Ministry of Digital Government offered to speed up the process…

These past few days, the process of AMKA allocations has been sped up, but now people can’t find appointments or the system still doesn’t recognise them. This means that by the time they are issued an AMKA, the dates for vaccinations of their specific age group may have passed. We should mention here that most foreigners in Greece are older and they live in islands or the countryside.

The only answer they have gotten about this issue is the same all other Greeks have received: the platform will open for all age groups by the end of May. By then, of course, the already existing problem of finding an appointment will be even greater, since a bigger amount of the population will want to be vaccinted. There is also the issue of whether there are enough doses for everyone.

Greek expats also excluded

It’s not just foreigners in our country who face this issue, but also Greek expats who have returned home.

An “Avgi” piece presents the story of Ms. Becky Bloom – Nastou, a Greek insured abroad, who managed to get an AMKA, but faced an issue when she went to the vaccination centre.

The employees there told her that the system didn’t recognise her AMKA and her vaccination was canceled. She was forced to repeat the whole process: go to the KEP to ask for an appointment, with her request being further to the municipality and then to EODY so her dose could be ordered…

Even though the Ministry of Digital Government has received a lot of praise, Rebecca Lieb – who is a tech and digital analyst – states that it is obvious that whoever made the vaccine platform didn’t think that it would have to be expanded multiple times. She adds that all this waiting for confirmations shows that the human factor plays a bigger role in a supposedly modern, digitised platform.

“Generally in Greece, there isn’t that much computerisation”, the American tech analyst notes.

We saw for ourselves how complicated the issue is when we tried to contact the authorities for a comment. The Ministry of Digital Government explained that the platform itself has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the General Secretariat of Digital System of the Ministry of Finance. For AMKA issues alone, IDIKA of the Ministry of Employment is responsible.

In short, to find an answer we were lost in the labyrinth of Greek bureaucracy. How can our foreign friends not get lost in translation?

The answer to why should foreigners be vaccinated

It’s not just the affluent foreign residents of our country who cannot get vaccinated. We shouldn’t forget the refugees and immigrants that are jailed in “hospitality” centres and are yet to be vaccinated.

Whether you are a foreigner living in Greece or a poor immigrant, there are voices that will say “why should we vaccinate foreign people, when we hardly have enough vaccines for ourselves”.

“Covid doesn’t care if you have AMKA. We are your friends, your neighbours, your customers”, Rebecca responds. The only answer should be that everyone – with no exceptions – should be vaccinated and protected against this pandemic.

It should also be noted that the vaccination campaign is financed by the EU with the purpose to vaccinate all Europeans. “It is a human right. We are not trying to take your place in line, we are just trying to get in line ourselves. It’s for Greece’s benefit”, Rebecca says.

Rebecca Lieb became the voice of all expats in Greece. She sent mails and letters, made phone calls and when nothing happened, she started an active and loud campaign on social media. She spoke to the foreign press, contacted the Greek Ombudsman, she found foreigners that live all over Greece and tried to organise them. Many of them are active in the Facebook group “Real Expats in Greece”.

Since a lot of older foreign people who don’t know Greek live in our country, she tried to tell them how to contact the authorities and how to maneuver the vaccination platform.

Two days ago, Rebecca Lieb got her second shot – a personal vindication for her plight. However, she notes that there a lot of other foreigners who are still waiting.