80% of eligible people have had booster shot

  • Lusa
  • 17 February 2022

"We have vaccinated 80% of the eligible people. The vast majority of people who are eligible to be vaccinated are vaccinated," said the vaccination plan coordinator on Thursday.

The vaccination plan coordinator said on Thursday “80% of the eligible persons” for the Covid-19 booster shot have been vaccinated and appealed to younger people to join the process.

“We have vaccinated 80% of the eligible people. The vast majority of people who are eligible to be vaccinated are vaccinated,” said Colonel Carlos Penha Gonçalves, in Vila Nova de Gaia, on a visit to the vaccination centre set up at the Bombeiros Voluntários de Coimbrões barracks.

He said that “more than 5.7 million people [have been vaccinated] with the third dose”, stating that “the overwhelming majority of people who are over 18 and could take the booster have already done so”, admitting, however, that “there are still people who have not done so”.

“But there is still a fraction of people who have not come to the process, and the facilities will still be here. My appeal is for people to take advantage of these facilities to vaccinate and finish their vaccine booster process. My appeal is that they do it as soon as possible”, he underlined.

Carlos Penha Gonçalves pointed out that in Portugal, the percentage of vaccinated people over 60 is 90%, while in the 50 to 59 age group, it is 80%.

“In the younger groups, we have less coverage,” he stressed in an appeal to younger people.

Covid-19 has caused at least 5,836,026 deaths worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest balance of the agency France-Presse.

In Portugal, since March 2020, 20,666 people have died, and 3,131,899 cases of infection have been counted, according to the latest update from the Directorate-General of Health.

The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.

The Omicron variant, which spreads and mutates rapidly, has become dominant worldwide since it was first detected in South Africa in November.