António Costa says coronavirus vaccines to be distributed simultaneous

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, has said that the European Union will distribute the future anti-Covid-19 vaccine fairly and according to the population of each member state, with Portugal completing its national vaccination strategy in November.

This was one of the conclusions announced by António Costa at the end of the extraordinary European Council meeting on Thursday, which was held by videoconference, at a press conference where he also said that no country had advocated a border closure strategy to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“At the moment, three contracts are already signed and four are under negotiation [for the purchase of vaccines]. Each batch of vaccine will be distributed equally to all countries according to their population,” Costa said.

He went on to say that each member state will have to define its own strategy for prioritising how the vaccine will be applied to its population.

“We must have the national vaccination strategy ready next month,” he said.