Health Minister Marta Temido said today that Portugal expects to receive around 1,2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 between this month and the first quarter of 2021.
“We still don't know for sure if they will happen in a single moment or in several weeks of these months. There are 312.975 (doses) accumulated in December and January, 429 doses in February and 487.500 in March, that is, a total of 1,2 million doses, if Pfizer deliveries are confirmed throughout the first quarter. But I insist that it depends on the production and distribution of third parties and we have to monitor it”, he stressed.
Speaking at a joint hearing between the Health parliamentary committee and the eventual committee to monitor the implementation of the response measures to the Covid-19 disease pandemic and the economic and social recovery process, Marta Temido also assumed “great expectations in the vaccine process Moderna and AstraZeneca”, although he acknowledged that they are at a later stage of market launch.
As for the start of vaccination, the government official reiterated that the arrival of the first doses "is scheduled for December 26th and that the country is prepared to start vaccinating on the 27th", recalling that the dates follow the other member states of the Union and that the decision to launch vaccination against Covid-19 between the 27th and the 29th represents an “important sign of the capacity of the various countries to work together”.
Marta Temido assured that the country has a “very significant” capacity in the administration of vaccines and also stressed that the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central and the Hospital de São João, in Porto, may not be the only ones to receive vaccines from the first planned batch. for this month.
“There are two hospitals that will be in this first batch, but that doesn't mean they are the only ones. Vaccination will be optional. In addition to identifying the health professionals who work in these hospitals and are eligible, vaccination depends on their interest in being vaccinated or not at this first moment, which is the first in a process that will be demanding”, he concluded.
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