Tsiodras was born on 13 October 1965 in Sydney, Australia, into an immigrant family originating from Neohori, Argolis.[1]
After the family moved back to Greece, he enrolled into the Ioannina medical school and then transferred to the University of Athens from which he graduated in March 1991 as a pathologist.[2]
In 2020, the government appointed a group of experts to coordinate the country's management of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Greece.[7] Tsiodras was appointed as the team's leader as well as the government's communications liaison for the COVID-19 health crisis.[8][9]
In December 2021, a study on the management of the fight against the disease in Greece, co-written by Tsiodras and Theodore Lytras, assistant professor of public health at the European University Cyprus, was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.[10] The study, conducted between September 2020 and May 2021, examined in-hospital mortality of intubated COVID-19 patients, in relation to total intubated patient load, intensive care unit availability, and hospital region. It found that mortality increased by 25% when ICU occupancy exceeded 400 patients, rising progressively to 57% when is went over 800 patients. It also found that "quality of care under increasing patient loads has received less attention" and pointed out "the need for more substantial strengthening of healthcare services, focusing on equity and quality of care besides just expanding capacity."[11][12] Tsiodras released a statement decrying political exploitation of the publication.[13]
During the swine fluepidemic that hit Greece in 2009,[14] as well as Europe, various Greek social media and publications claimed that Tsiodras had been somehow involved in what were ostensibly "excessive" purchases of vaccines for the H1N1 virus,[15] claims that resurfaced during the covid pandemic.
They were proved to be without merit since the chair person of the 2009 epidemic committee was another professor, while Tsiodras had been appointed as a rapporteur of the Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The procurement of the vaccines had been a government decision taken by the General Secretary of the Ministry of Health under by Minister of HealthDimitris Avramopoulos and Prime MinisterCostas Karamanlis.[16] Tsiodras himself, who was at the time professor of Pathology and Infections at the Athens University, had publicly opined that "only in the case of a flu pandemic in Greece could the remaining quantities of the vaccines be used, an event that, for now, is only hypothetical."[17] Avramopoulos was eventually investigated for having been "bribed" by pharmaceutical Novartis to proceed with the "excessive quantity" of the swine flu vaccine but the prosecution authority declared, in February 2022, the case as being without merit and containing no evidence for a court trial.[18]
Le Figaro claimed that Tsiodras was the "new 'main man' of Greeks".[22] In the article, it is claimed that Tsiodras had asked Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to impose strict lockdown measures as soon as the first cases were reported in Italy. Greek sociologist Andreas Drymiotis remarked that "Greeks particularly appreciate [Tsiodras'] calm, his knowledge on the matter, and his deep respect for all victims and the fact that he has an unbreakable dedication to nursing staff."[23]
New York Times journalist Matina Stevis-Gridneff described him as one of the "heroes of the coronavirus era".[9] In May 2020, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that, to Tsiodras, it is "important that nobody is forgotten in a crisis." After many residents of a Roma settlement in Thessaly tested positive for the virus, Tsiodras traveled to the settlement and ordered that the people be supported with food and disinfectants, warning against attempts to "scapegoat" the Roma.[24]
Tsiodras is a practicing Orthodox Christian, an aficionado of Byzantinehymnology, and a member of his local church's choir. He and his wife Asimina, née Ghéli,[25] have seven children.[2]
^Τσιόδρας, Σωτήριος (2003). Επίδραση των αναστολέων πρωτεάσης στο μεταβολικό σύνδρομο των ασθενών με HIV-1 λοίμωξη (Thesis). doi:10.12681/eadd/13581. hdl:10442/hedi/13581.
^Lytras, T; Tsiodras, S (13 December 2021). "Total patient load, regional disparities and in-hospital mortality of intubated COVID-19 patients in Greece, from September 2020 to May 2021". Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. 50 (6): 671–675. doi:10.1177/14034948211059968. PMID34903101. S2CID245132206.
^Martens, Michael (3 May 2020). "Ein Arzt für alle Griechen" [A doctor for all Greeks]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 27 February 2021. The country is doing well in the fight against the virus. The success has a name: Sotiris Tsiodras.
