Documents obtained by Solomon show that since May 2025, the European Commission has repeatedly urged Greece to move forward with vaccination. The government continues to deny this to this day.
15 / 02 / 2026
The Ministry of Rural Development and Food responded to Solomon’s questions on 26 January 2026, following publication of the investigation. In its response, the Ministry assured that it “has responded to correspondence and information requests” from the European Commission regarding sheep pox. The Ministry also cited Commissioner Várhelyi, reiterating that there is no approved vaccine and that vaccination would constitute an exceptional measure, to be weighed against commercial and epidemiological risk — a point previously examined in Solomon’s reporting, which detailed the conditions under which member states may apply for vaccination. It added that vaccination is considered a supplementary measure that would result in restrictions on dairy exports, an issue also highlighted in earlier Solomon reporting. Finally, the Ministry further acknowledged that the Commission “recommends vaccination as part of the options within the national response framework,” while stressing that it does not “compel Member States to proceed with vaccination.” This position is consistent with what Solomon had previously reported — a claim that was at the time publicly disputed by the government spokesperson.
Documents obtained by Solomon and published in full for the first time show that European authorities repeatedly urged Greece to introduce vaccination to contain a sheep and goat pox (SGP) outbreak that has led to the mass culling of animals and severe losses for farming communities across the country.
The documents, obtained by Solomon through freedom of information (FOI) requests, cover the period from May to October 2025, and contradict the government’s public claims about its handling of the crisis.
The documents we are publishing today, in chronological order, are:
Taken together, the files offer a rare view into the escalating concern in Brussels as the outbreak in Greece intensified, and provide a documentary record against which official government statements can now be evaluated.
The documents show that:
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis has repeatedly challenged Solomon’s investigation and recently insisted that Greece “fully followed European guidelines.”
“It would be irrational to believe that a recommendation was given to the country and not followed,” he said earlier this month.
The documents we publish today, however, paint a different picture: despite strong recommendations and repeated assurances from the Commission regarding the immediate availability, effectiveness, and safety of the vaccine, the Greek government remains opposed to vaccination.
In mid-May 2025, as new cases of sheep and goat pox surged, a team of veterinary experts traveled to Greece to assess the government’s response.
Between 13 and 16 May, the experts – part of the EU’s Emergency Veterinary Team (EU-VET) – carried out field visits in northern Greece and met with national and regional authorities to assess whether existing containment measures were working.
As Solomon previously reported, the experts concluded that the renewed wave of cases was likely linked to animal movements during the Easter period and warned that the measures in place were not sufficient to contain the outbreak.
Among their key recommendations was the introduction of vaccination in high-risk areas, alongside stronger enforcement.
EU officials also informed Greece that vaccines were available through the EU vaccine bank, free of charge, and that the Commission stood ready to provide scientific and financial support.
Days later, those concerns were formalized in writing.
In a letter to the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, the European Commission described the situation as “continously [sic] worrying.”
“Despite the promised strong action,” the Commission wrote, “we witness in the past few weeks a recurrence of outbreaks in several areas from which the disease had been (presumably) cleared”.
The letter said information provided by Greek authorities on the origin of the new cases remained “fragmentary and insufficient” and condemned the situation in Greece as “deeply unsatisfactory.”
Greece, the Commission added, had failed to produce a concise action plan capable of halting the spread of the disease or preventing its return.
Greek authorities were urgently requested to submit – by 2 June 2025 – a “concise and credible short- and mid-term action plan” with additional measures to stop further spread, “including at least pre-movement testing and a vaccination plan.”
Solomon asked the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food whether such a plan was submitted, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. The Commission was also contacted for comment, but did not provide a direct answer.
Within just a few months of the expert field visit, the disease had spread to seven new regional units, according to a subsequent communication from the Commission.
By early September, the Commission’s concern had hardened into alarm.
On 2 September 2025, the Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, wrote directly to Greece’s agriculture minister, Kostas Tsiaras, to express what he described as his “escalating concern” over the “lack of progress in bringing the disease under control.”
Despite repeated calls for urgent action and offers of technical support, the Commissioner warned, the disease continued to spread rapidly across the country.
“The measures implemented to date,” the letter said, “fail to contain the disease and lack the strategic and credible long-term vision needed for its eradication”.
“I need to signal my strong disappointment as the new measures still do not consider any scenario for vaccination,” the Commissioner wrote, despite repeated recommendations – including following the EU-VET mission in May.
“The Commission urges the Greek authorities to urgently revise the national SGP control strategy to include vaccination,” he wrote.
Days later, the issue was discussed behind closed doors in Brussels, during a meeting between Minister Tsiaras, Commissioner Várhelyi, and their delegations.
According to records reviewed by Solomon and first reported in November, vaccination dominated the discussion.
Commission officials reiterated that EU veterinary experts had repeatedly recommended its use as part of Greece’s national response. Greek authorities, the document shows, “strongly declined” to adopt it.
On 6 October, the Commission’s warnings grew sharper.
In another letter to Minister Tsiaras, Commissioner Várhelyi wrote that the approach Greece had followed for more than a year was failing, citing systemic weaknesses in disease control — from shortages of official veterinarians and gaps in biosecurity to delayed detection, possible underreporting of suspected cases and continued, rapid spread of the virus into new areas.
“[T]he measures that have been applied in Greece for more than one year now are not sufficient to stop the disease from spreading – nor to reduce the number of animals that must be culled due to SGP.”
“Vaccination is the only additional measure that can stop the occurrence of new outbreaks of SGP, limit further spread to the rest of Greece and reduce the number of animals to be killed,” the letter said.
The Commissioner noted that scientific evidence, veterinary expertise and past experience all supported an immediate shift toward vaccination.
Vaccination does carry trade consequences. It automatically triggers temporary restrictions on the movement of live animals and animal products, such as milk and meat, from the vaccination zone. And it suspends the region’s “disease-free” status, which allows livestock exports to continue.
But in the letter, the Commission cautioned that the worsening outbreak itself – not vaccination – was already triggering trade restrictions.
Citing what it described as the “accelerated deterioration” of the outbreak, “not seen recently in any other Member State”, the Commission noted that shipments of small ruminants from the entire country had already been prohibited until 31 December.
Without rapid vaccination and a drastic improvement of the epidemiological situation, the Commission warned, those restrictions would not only be extended but could be widened to include additional products – including dairy – to protect the rest of the European Union.
In a statement to Solomon, the Commission said that its measures have been extended until June 2026, but provided no further details.
The October letter also detailed the vaccines available through the EU vaccine bank.
According to the Commission, the EU vaccine bank held more than 300,000 doses of the Jovivac5 vaccine, produced by the company Jovac, with an order for an additional 1.7 million doses already in progress.
At the same time, a separate public procurement procedure was also underway for the supply of four million additional doses based on the Bakırköy strain, intended to provide an alternative option in the near future.
The vaccines would be provided free of charge and could be delivered to Greece within a few working days following the formal submission of a request, according to the letter.
The Commission added that it stood ready to provide financial and technical support to facilitate the rollout of the vaccination program. While such vaccines are not formally authorized under the EU’s standard approval system – largely because sheep pox has not circulated in the bloc for decades – EU legislation provides a mechanism allowing member states to request their use in emergency situations, subject to Commission approval.
In January, Greek officials publicly rejected Solomon’s reporting, insisting that Greece had “fully followed European guidelines, which reflect all the recommendations that ultimately led to the decisions taken.”
Days later, the Commission confirmed that Greece had still not requested vaccines.
In a written response to Solomon on 13 January 2026, a Commission spokesperson said the institution had remained in close contact with Greek authorities “at both technical and political level” and had been available to provide scientific and technical support throughout the outbreak.
“The Commission still recommends vaccination to combat the SGP situation in Greece as part of Greece’s national response, in addition to other disease control measures,” the spokesperson said.
At the same time, the Commission stressed that it does not have the authority to compel member states to vaccinate.
“We can confirm again that to date, Greece has not requested vaccines,” the spokesperson wrote.
Asked to comment on remarks by the government spokesperson dismissing Solomon’s findings, the Commission declined, saying it would “not comment on comments or allegations of which we have no knowledge or information.”
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