Mandatory vaccinations, the segregation of citizens and promotion of inequality in the modern democracy of Greece. Is science allowed to "enforce" or silently back-up such policies?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek authorities enforced a vaccination mandate for healthcare workers (HCWs), and "social occlusion” of the unvaccinated citizens. At the same instant, multiple concerns have been raised about the epidemiological profile of Greece, the condition of public health, the ethical status of segregation policies and the role that the expert panel should play. We discuss how the policy of putting unvaccinated HCWs on unpaid suspension, the inequality and the segregation of citizens could harm social, physical, and mental healthcare in civilized societies. We would also like to provide an open invitation for a broader discussion to the scientific community, promoting critical debate based on the questions raised.

Mandatory vaccinations, the segregation of citizens and promotion of inequality in the modern democracy of Greece and other democratic countries. Is it ethical for the scientific community to "enforce" or silently back-up such policies?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek authorities enforced a vaccination mandate for healthcare workers (HCWs), and "social occlusion” of the unvaccinated citizens in general. At the same time, multiple concerns have been raised about the epidemiological profile of Greece, the condition of public health, the ethical status of segregation policies and the role that the expert panel should play. We discuss how the policy of putting unvaccinated HCWs on unpaid suspension, the inequality and the segregation of citizens could harm social, physical, mental and spiritual healthcare in civilized societies. We would also like to invite the scientific community to an open and broad discussion and a critical debate based on the questions raised.

Mandatory vaccinations, the segregation of citizens, and the promotion of inequality in the modern democracy of Greece and other democratic countries in the era of COVID-19.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greek authorities enforced a vaccination mandate for healthcare workers (HCWs). At the same time, multiple concerns were raised about the epidemiological profile of Greece in addition to the ethical status of the harsh measures and their impact on employees, organizations, society, and public health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), considerations regarding the evidence of vaccine safety and effectiveness, necessity, and proportionality should be clearly evaluated by before imposing mandatory vaccination policies. We discuss the issues regarding the mechanics of the transmission and contraction of SARS-CoV-2, the toxicity of COVID-19 vaccines, and the impact of the suspension of HCWs who did not vaccinate versus the potential expected benefits in addition to whether the vaccine mandates were justified considering the overall epidemiological context.

Oncology and complications.

This collection of cases describes some unusual urological tumors and complications related to urological tumors and their treatment. Case 1: A case of uretero-arterial fistula in a patient with long-term ureteral stenting for ureteral oncological stricture and a second case associated to retroperitoneal fibrosis were described. Abdominal CT, pyelography, cystoscopy were useful to show the origin of the bleeding. Angiography is useful for confirming the diagnosis and for subsequent positioning of an endovascular prosthesis which represents a safe approach with reduced post-procedural complications. Case 2: A case of patient who suffered from interstitial pneumonitis during a cycle of intravesical BCG instillations for urothelial cancer. The patient was hospitalized for more than two weeks in a COVID ward for a suspected of COVID-19 pneumonia, but he did not show any evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection during his hospital stay. Case 3: A case of a young man with a functional urinary bladder paraganglioma who was successfully managed with complete removal of the tumor, leaving the urinary bladder intact. Case 4: A case of a 61 year old male suffering from muscle invasive bladder cancer who was admitted for a radical cystectomy and on the eighth postoperative day developed microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, which clinically defines thrombotic microangiopathy.