Covid-19: 10 million vaccines already administered in Portugal

  • Lusa
  • 16 July 2021

"About 95% of the population over 50 years old living on the mainland have had one dose of the vaccine administered, and 85% has the complete vaccination," the health ministry announced.

Portugal mainland has so far given 10 million vaccines against Covid-19, about six million first doses and another four million who completed the vaccination, the health ministry said on Thursday.

“At this moment, about 95% of the population over 50 years old living on the mainland have had one dose of the vaccine administered, and 85% has the complete vaccination,” the health ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, of the total adult population residing on the mainland, 74% now have one dose of the vaccine, and 55% have the complete vaccination scheme.

Quoted in the statement, the secretary of state for health, Diogo Serras Lopes, stressed the effort by everyone involved in the vaccination plan, which started on 27 December, and that has allowed “every vaccine delivered in Portugal to reach people as soon as possible”.

Portugal is accelerating the vaccination against Covid-19 due to the rapid spread of variant Delta, considered more transmissible and prevalent in the country.

As part of this effort, the plan foresees three modalities of vaccination in parallel – by the scheduling of health services, the anticipation of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and “open house” without the need for prior scheduling – but the latter was suspended today by the `task force’ that coordinates the logistics of this process.

“Taking into account the suspension of a batch of Janssen brand vaccines (…) and the consequent reduction in the availability of vaccines, it was decided to suspend, immediately, the ‘open house’ mode,” said the structure led by Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo, advancing that this mode of vaccination will be resumed “as soon as possible”.

On Wednesday, the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products (Infarmed) announced the suspension of a batch of vaccines from Janssen after users fainted after taking the vaccine at the Covid-19 Vaccination Centre in Mafra.

According to the health authority (DGS), in Portugal, since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, 17,187 people have died, and 920,200 cases of infection have been recorded, according to the health authority (DGS).