The second delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines against covid-19, with 70.200 doses, has already arrived in Portugal today, revealed the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, stressing that the country was not affected by a delay by the pharmaceutical company.
«Portugal has already received the amount of vaccines for this second delivery that was planned and, therefore, we were not affected by this disorder in the delivery that will have affected other countries. What we had foreseen from the beginning is that there would be deliveries on the 28th, which has not ended yet, and we know that this is a complex process from a logistical point of view», said the government official, referring to the delay in the second delivery already reported in Spain.
Pfizer Spain announced today that "this evening it was informed by its factory in Puurs (Belgium) of delays in shipments to eight European countries, including Spain, due to a problem in the loading and shipping process."
In statements made at the Curry Cabral Hospital, in Lisbon, where she attended another vaccination action for health professionals, Marta Temido explained that this delivery "has already materialized in part for the airport in Porto" and that it will also be distributed "to the continuation of this process of vaccination in more hospitals of the National Health Service and also in the first primary health care units in the country.
"We are still awaiting transport – which is expected to be direct – to the Azores and Madeira archipelago," added the minister, who indicated that Portugal expects to receive "79.950 deliveries in each of the four weeks of January" and that he is convinced that the country will "be able to overcome these circumstances that have affected some countries today."
Comments