Portugal Free COVID-19 Vaccine For All Its People

Vaccine illustration (Unsplash / CDC)

JAKARTA - The Portuguese government will provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all its people. The plan is for the first phase of vaccination to start next month with a target of 10 percent of the Portuguese population.

Launched by Reuters on Friday, December 4, those who are prioritized to get the first vaccine are those over 50 years of age. Because, at that age many people are susceptible to diseases such as heart or lung problems. The disease can be made worse by COVID-19.

After the elderly, priority falls on health workers who are fighting at the forefront of fighting COVID-19. The next priority is military security, to people who work in nursing homes. This phase is targeted to last until February and even to April, if there are significant obstacles.

“We can already see the light at the end of the road, but not all vaccines arrive on the first day. They will arrive gradually throughout the year, ”said Prime Minister, Antonio Costa.

Meanwhile, another 2.7 million people are planned to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the second phase. the target is still the same, namely those who are elderly. Because of this, it is hoped that the entire population will be vaccinated during the third phase.

Previously, the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, said that his country would buy 22 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for 243.14 million. Policy owners have also signed cooperation agreements with vaccine manufacturers such as CureVac, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and GSK.

So far Portugal has confirmed 303,846 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, there were 4,645 deaths.