The Algarve is preparing to reactivate the vaccination centers that have since been deactivated, to administer booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and, eventually, to vaccinate children. The revelation was made this Monday by Paulo Morgado, president of the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve.
“What we want is, in places where we have already had large spaces for vaccination, to reactivate them. In Faro, where the center was located in Penha's Pavilion, we have already found the solution at Forum Algarve. In Portimão, we are finding that solution", said the official, at the press conference to update the epidemiological situation.
The reactivation of these spaces allows "avoiding the accumulation of people in the vaccination process", and, recently, "we had queues in some health centers, as in Faro and Portimão».
According to Paulo Morgado, this happened because «there was little adhesion of the population to the vaccination process, with many shortages and, suddenly, there was a “click” at the national level, with the appearance of the new variant, with the increase in the number cases and with the measures taken by the Government, which led people to join».
Even so, explains the president of the ARS Algarve, the accumulation of people is also due to the Open House modality, which “is a disorganized process, with no scheduling, no time. But, as of today [yesterday], the Open House will have digital passwords again, as it used to, to avoid this disorganization».
According to the latest data, for Saturday, the Algarve has 85% of people with full vaccination and 86,3% with at least one dose, approaching the numbers of the rest of the country.
Now, the main challenge is the administration of booster doses. Therefore, Paulo Morgado makes the «appeal to people who live and work in the Algarve, to get vaccinated. We have open vaccination for people over 65 years of age and for professionals at higher risk, and yesterday we started users vaccinated with Janssen, over 50 years old. People should go to vaccination centers, where we are available to vaccinate eligible people and we do not refuse the vaccine to anyone who belongs to these groups».
Then, highlights the official, "this process of vaccination will continue and the expectation we have is that, in the coming months, more groups will be included and that, like other countries, we will vaccinate children aged 5-11".
This is a point that has caused disagreement with regard to the vaccination process, but Ana Cristina Rodrigues, delegate for Health in the Algarve, believes that «the vaccination of children, if approved, will be a success. If parents vaccinate their children for diseases that are not common, such as measles, if people think with their heads, since this is a disease that is here, they will want to join».
Jorge Botelho, secretary of State coordinating the fight against the pandemic in the Algarve, also called for vaccination, not least because, as evidenced by the epidemiological situation in the region, with regard to pressure on hospitals, «everyone has already realized that vaccination is effective».
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