Portugal is not considering the exemption from the use of masks by vaccinated people, said today the Deputy Secretary of State and Health, Lacerda Sales, claiming lack of scientific robustness to move forward with this measure.
"We took the decision to keep the mask, even after vaccination, keep a distance and, therefore, maintain the guidelines of the General Directorate of Health (DGS)", said António Lacerda Sales, in Caldas da Rainha, considering that there is "still robustness scientific in what is the possibility of transmissibility [of the virus], namely in the asymptomatic ones».
The United States announced on Thursday that it will end the mandatory use of face masks for vaccinated people, including in some closed environments, due to the favorable evolution of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its guidelines for fully vaccinated persons, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors, in crowds, and in most indoor environments, although their use is still required in crowded indoor environments such as buses, planes, hospitals or prisons.
Questioned by Agência Lusa, the Secretary of State stressed that, after vaccination, "what is robust in scientific terms is that there is immunogenicity, so to speak, against serious disease." But, he said, the country still has no "definition regarding this process", that the mask could be dispensed with after vaccination.
«On the contrary», what the Government recommends is that «keep the distance, keep the mask», recommendations that Lacerda Sales believes will be «the indications in the coming times», although with the evolution of scientific knowledge in relation to Covid-19, the procedures "may be adapted and adapted to new standards".
António Lacerda Sales was speaking in Caldas da Rainha, on the sidelines of the city's day commemorations, which he presided over today, on a day dedicated to hydrotherapy and primary care.
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