Portugal has called on other countries for more vaccines

Portugal has appealed to other European countries to get higher doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and speed up population vaccinations, Health Minister Martha Temido announced Tuesday.

Also read: COVID-19: In Europe, measures to increase the announced wave are on the rise

In terms of vaccines, the minister announced at the end of a meeting of experts aimed at ascertaining the health situation that “the country has made a lot of efforts” to receive more vaccines.

The country expects to receive nearly a million doses of vaccines in the next three weeks, said Henrik Gowea, e-mail coordinator of the National Vaccine Program.

Portugal, which has already received about 290,000 doses of the vaccine from Norway and is in talks with Italy for 300,000 additional doses, on Tuesday received 200,000 doses of estrogen, purchased from Hungary.

It clearly shows the “spirit of European cooperation”, welcomed by Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva along with his Hungarian counterpart Sizzarto, noting that the dose received on Tuesday was intended for Portuguese-speaking African countries and Timor. Oriental.

In Portugal, the government wants to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year. He is currently waiting for the green light from health officials.

“Vaccination of children is very necessary, otherwise there will be a peak of new cases,” epidemiologist Henrique de Barros warned at a meeting with the government.

Some scientists were consulted on Tuesday that the country should be closer to this new wave peak. They appealed for the evolution of limit measures according to the vaccine rate.

Authorities aim to fully vaccinate 70% of the population by the end of August. In Portugal, which currently has a population of 10 million, 6.5 million people have already been vaccinated and 4.5 million are fully vaccinated.

Portugal has been plagued for several weeks by increased pollution due to the delta variant, which currently represents more than 98% of cases.

In an effort to prevent the epidemic, the government has decided to expand the use of the Health Pass to hotels or restaurants and to establish overnight curfews in the most affected municipalities.