The General Directorate of Health (DGS) recommended this Thursday, April 8, at a press conference, that AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine should only be given to people over 60 years of age.
The decision was announced after yesterday the European Medicines Agency have admitted that there may be a chance of a link between this vaccine and the formation of rare blood clots.
Henrique Gouveia e Melo, coordinator of the vaccination task force, revealed that, due to this decision, the vaccination of teachers and employees of the 2nd, 3rd and secondary cycles, scheduled for this weekend, was postponed for a week. In other words: instead of taking place on April 10th and 11th, it will happen on April 17th and 18th.
The vice-admiral said, even so, that the impacts on the vaccination campaign will not be great, which is due to the fact that, at this stage, Portugal is essentially vaccinating people over 60 years old.
To those who have already been vaccinated with a dose of AstraZeneca, Graça Freitas, general director of Health, left a word of reassurance, since «adverse reactions are extremely rare».
"However, within 7 to 14 days after administration, they should be aware of symptoms, persistent headaches, bruises, red patches on the skin," he said.
Graça Freitas also explained that, for the time being, it is necessary to "wait for knowledge" to find out if, who has already taken a dose of AstraZeneca, should or should not take the second.
In Portugal, according to Rui Ivo, president of Infarmed, there were only two cases of thrombotic events, after vaccination against Covid-19: one with the AstraZeneca vaccine and the other with another vaccine. Still, said Rui Ivo, none resulted in the death of these people.
So far, according to Gouveia e Melo, Portugal has already administered 400 doses of AstraZeneca, with 200 in reserve.
In the second quarter, 1,4 million doses of AstraZeneca will be received, for a total of 8,8 million vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson, which only requires one dose.
In total terms, Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo made a point of referring to the "milestone" reached today: Portugal has already administered 2 million vaccines, which means that 15% of the population has already received at least one dose.
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