Country has received over 140,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine

Portugal has already received more than 140,000 doses of the vaccine against Covid-19, of which almost half have already been distributed and, of these, 32,000 have been administered, Health Minister Marta Temido said on Wednesday.

Of the around 140,400 doses of vaccines that Portugal has received, more than 66,700 doses have already been distributed and, by 5:30 pm on Tuesday, more than 32,000 doses had already been administered, she said.

Asked about the arrival of new consignments of the vaccine and possible delays, the minister said that the health authorities were always adapting and said that next week more vaccine against Covid-19 will arrive in Portugal.

“One shipment arrived this Monday, 79,950, and we have three more consignments in the coming weeks of January still to be defined,” she said.

Marta Temido stressed that Portugal maintains the strategy of administering the second dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine 21 days after the first inoculation, noting that this is what is planned.

According to her, the first phase of vaccination, which covers health professionals and essential services as well as users and staff of nursing homes and long-term care units and patients over 50 years of age with risk pathologies, is expected to continue until the end of the first quarter.