Health Minister Manuel Pizarro assured in Matosinhos that the necessary vaccines will be available within a period of eight to ten weeks, so that all Portuguese who have an indication can be vaccinated.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ‘4 Health Mobilizing Agendas’ initiative under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), Manuel Pizarro responded to the revelation made today by the National Association of Family Health Units that there are health centers with a The stock of flu vaccines is very low or even zero, a situation that should only stabilize from the second week of October.
“This campaign will take place between eight and ten weeks, primarily because it would be logistically impossible to vaccinate everyone in one or two weeks. them,” the minister said.
“Why aren’t they all here? Because these vaccines are prepared for the most recent flu and covid viruses. Their production process started a few weeks ago. People need to be completely reassured. They will be available during this period. from eight to ten weeks, all the necessary vaccines, so that all Portuguese who have an indication can be vaccinated,” he said.
The vice president of the National Association of Family Health Units (USF-AN), Diogo Urjais, told Lusa that this situation is due to the reduced number of influenza vaccines allocated to primary health care and the delay in the delivery of vaccines due to a part of the laboratories.
“They will not all be available in the first days or weeks (…) but there is an advantage: there have never been 3,500 places where the Portuguese can get vaccinated as much as this time,” replied Manuel Pizarro.
The flu vaccination, which is taking place this year simultaneously with Covid-19, started last Friday and preferably takes place in public pharmacies for people over 60.
In the SNS, vaccination will be carried out for people under 60 years of age with risk pathologies, pregnant women and professionals in healthcare (public and private) and other healthcare services, students undergoing clinical internships, firefighters involved in the transportation of patients and healthcare providers for dependent people who will be called by the respective health centers where they are registered.
Vaccination will also take place in homes, in the integrated continuous care network and in prisons, carried out by National Health Service professionals.
Source: DN
