Melbourne-born Georgios Hatzimanolis has made Athens his home for the past 13 years. The former editor of the English edition of Neos Kosmos is now a media strategist for a maritime intelligence company based in Greece.

Georgios is inclined to hang out in cool bars in the inner-city belt of Pangrati, Psyri or Exarhia, but one night he did something unusual, he joined a parea (group of friends) at the bouzoukia.

A fateful decision. Georgios caught the Delta variant of COVID-19.

“I’ve been in Greece 13 years, and I’ve never been to bouzoukia and the first time I go, I get COVID,” he said.

Georgios had his first dose of AstraZeneca and Marilyn, his partner, “had one shot of Pfizer and she never got infected.”

His close friend, also with one shot of Pfizer, “did not get infected.”

“Everyone who was unvaxxed, got infected,” Georgios told Neos Kosmos.

“Of the eight people on the table, the five who were unvaxxed got infected, and one was hospitalised.

“Two that were part-vaxxed did not get infected, and I, also part-vaxxed, recovered.”

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Georgios, and his partner Marilyn, did not isolate from each other when he was sick and they “slept in same bed.”

“I struggled for about six days; I was on the verge of going to hospital, but I didn’t want to leave Marilyn alone, given that she moved to Athens for me, and does not yet speak Greek.”

His symptoms were not light. Breathing was “particularly tough”, he said. And whenever he tried to drink water, or eat, he’d spit it out. He lost his taste as well.

“I felt horrible – super fatigued, I can’t explain it, and Athina was 37C to 38C every day during that period.

“I would go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet for 20 minutes just so I could get the energy to return to the couch.”

Georgios doesn’t want to “come across preachy” but is convinced that his first shot stopped him “from becoming much worse.”

“I feel everyone should have the right to make their own choices on the vaccine, but my experience shows that vaccines do work – I’m certain had I not had my first shot I would’ve been in a much worse situation”

Georgios says that the unvaxxed got very sick and “recovered much slower” than he did.

“There’s an aftermath for the unvaxxed, they still have difficulties breathing, they are continuously fatigued, and one still hasn’t got their taste back fully.”

He was also lucky that his cousin, a doctor, called him daily and Georgios would give him his blood oxygen readings.

“He was fantastic help, I bought a blood oxygen reader and would give him the readings on a daily basis, he’d tell me what to do.”

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Greece has more physicians per capita than in any other OECD country and during the past 20 years, the number of doctors increased rapidly to reach 4.9 practising physicians per 1,000 population. There are more specialised physicians in comparison to other countries in the OECD, with a only five per cent of doctors being GPs. The health system in Greece is relatively good given Greece’s rank as a poorer EU nation.

Georgios also experienced classic Greek inconsistency when it was time for his scheduled second dose three weeks after being infected.

“I saw three different doctors with contrasting opinions at the government vaccine hub: one said I could get the second shot, the other said to wait three months and the third said to wait six months after my infection.”

The debate arose over whether Georgios’ antibodies were high, having passed through the infection.

Asked about how the Greeks are dealing with COVID-19, Georgios said “they’re living with it. You can’t stay locked down forever, and I think, despite the high cases, Greece has done a good job opening up”.

“Indoor venues require a vaccine pass, you have to distance, and wear a mask and keep seated,” he said.

Georgios is worried, but not for himself.

“It’s still warm and people are out, so it’s fine, but winter is coming and there will be more activity indoors.”

He is worried about the elderly “many of whom haven’t been vaxxed and don’t take the appropriate precautions”.

Greece a nation of just over 10-million people has had 14,795 registered COVID-19 deaths and an average of around 3,000 infections per day. It may be a hard winter.