Portugal received today another 99.450 doses of vaccines against Covid-19, bringing the total accumulated by the country since the start of vaccination on December 27 to 411.600 doses, said the Minister of Health, Marta Temido.
At a press conference held at the Ministry of Health, in Lisbon, after a meeting with the 'taskforce' of the vaccination plan, the government official also clarified that by 19:00 this Sunday, 255.700 inoculations had already been carried out, namely to health professionals and users and household employees. Furthermore, the expectation of reaching 100 vaccinated in the health sector by the end of this week was highlighted.
“We estimate that by the end of this month 100 health professionals from the National Health Service (SNS), National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), Ricardo Jorge Health Institute (INSA), Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation ( IPTP), from the armed forces, prisons and the private and social sectors of structures that are receiving Covid patients”, he said.
Marta Temido indicated that doses of vaccine have already been administered to more than 162 users and employees of residential establishments for the elderly (ERPI) and the national network of integrated continuous care (RNCCI), stressing that "it is possible" to conclude this process soon, a since “there are few professionals and residents” to vaccinate. However, he recalled that homes where there are Covid-19 outbreaks remain the exception.
The change in the period of 21 days between the two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that has been made in some countries also deserved a comment from the head of the health portfolio in the Government, to assume that the Ministry has already asked for clarification at European level.
“Portugal continues to make the 21-day interval between the two doses of the vaccine. We made a request, together with other countries, to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on this issue. We still don't have a recommendation and, therefore, we keep the 21 days”, he stressed.
