Northern region has most vaccinated, Algarve under 80%

The northern region of Portugal is the one that has reached so far the highest amount of the population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, 87%, with the Algarve the only region that is below 80%, the health authority (DGS)announced on Wednesday.

According to the DGS weekly report on vaccination, which counts the vaccination from December 27 2020 until last Sunday, after the northern region comes the central region and the Alentejo with 86%.

Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Azores and Madeira come after with 82% of the population with complete vaccination, and finally the Algarve, with 78%.

The report released today states that in the country as a whole, over 8.7 million people (84%) have completed the vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and that over 8.9 million (87%) have received at least one dose.

By age groups, the DGS report also indicates that around 510,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 17 (82%) have already completed their vaccination, and over 548,000 (88%) have taken at least one dose of the vaccine.

In the group between 18 and 24 years, 669,000 people (86%) have already completed their vaccination, and more than 709,000 (91%) have already been vaccinated with at least the first dose.

From 25 to 40 years old and from 50 to 64 years old, the values for complete vaccination are higher, 92% and 98%, respectively.

The vaccination report also states that 100% of the elderly in the age groups from 65 to 79 and those over 80 have already been fully vaccinated, representing more than 2.3 million people.

Portugal has already received more than 20.2 million vaccines, with more than 16 million doses distributed to vaccination centres in mainland Portugal and the two autonomous regions.

Covid-19 has caused at least 4,805,049 deaths worldwide, among more than 235.30 million infections by the new coronavirus recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the most recent balance of the agency France-Presse.

The head of Covid-19 management at the World Health Organization (WHO), Maria Van Kerkhove, said today that from the data that countries send the organisation, the rate of hospitalization and deaths is by far higher “among those who have not been vaccinated”.

In Portugal, since March 2020, 18,004 people have died, and 1,072,037 cases of infection have been counted, according to data from the Directorate-General of Health.