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Portugal will resume vaccination against covid-19 with the AstraZeneca vaccine. And whoever refuses to be vaccinated with it loses their turn, goes to the end of the line and even then, they will not be able to choose and will be immunized with the vaccine that is available at that time.
“The principle in the vaccination process is not to choose the vaccine, because approved vaccines are equally good and safe,” explains Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, coordinator of the workgroup national vaccination plan.
The vaccine was suspended in Portugal on Monday. However, there have already been reports of refusals from some people who demanded to be immunized with other vaccines.
“We explained to them that they will have to wait or wait for the allocation rule to change. We’ve already had doctors and dentists, for example, refuse, but the rule is simple: you can’t choose. It would be ingestible. If people do not accept the rule and have that right, they will have to wait. They will be vaccinated in the summer or after the summer ”, José Luís Biscaia, executive director of the Baixo Mondego Health Center Group, explains to the Public.
Diogo Urjais, president of the National Association of Family Health Units, also says the same. “There have been rejections before and now there should be more. But refusing is impossible from the beginning. The guideline is: the user does not choose the vaccine. We cannot eliminate the person from the list, what we say is that we will have to wait, at the risk of not getting vaccinated ”.
The decision to lift the suspension of the vaccine was announced yesterday at a joint press conference between the workgroup, Directorate General of Health (DGS) and Infarmed (National Authority for Medicines and Health Products). This was after the EMA (European Medicines Agency) reported that the vaccine was “effective and safe” and that “people can trust the vaccine.”
“The recommendation is that health professionals are aware of possible side effects,” said, however, Emer Cooke, director of the EMA, adding that more studies will be done while vaccination continues.
For Rui Ivo, president of Infarmed, “the benefits of the vaccine clearly outweigh any risk of adverse reaction” and this “was very clear in the committee’s conclusions”, also referring that “the vaccine is not associated with a generalized increase in risk” . of blood clots in its administration ”.
In addition, the president of Infarmed said that, as of today, two documents on this vaccine will be available. Information leaflet for citizens and information for health professionals.
However, neither Rui Ivo nor Graça Freitas rule out the possibility of changing the definition of priority groups to take this vaccine. “We have to wait for the documents, in fact, to be available in their final written form,” Graça Freitas said.
Teachers’ vaccination was resumed
The vaccination of preschool and first cycle teachers and non-teachers was initially scheduled for this weekend. However, the inoculation of this group will only occur one week later, on the 27th and 28th of this month.
“Another week, or a week and a half, we have the plan recovered,” says the coordinator of the workgroup, the Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo, referring to the interruption that affected “about 120 thousand people.”
However, the vaccination of this group of professionals does not imply “surpassing” other groups considered a priority, such as the elderly aged 80 and over and those at risk aged 50 or over.
“What was decided is that we would vaccinate two strains in parallel: people with comorbidities and, at the same time, teachers and non-teachers. Schools are the sector that will first suspect and, therefore, in an attempt to further protect the school community, teachers will also be vaccinated ”, explained Graça Freitas.
Asked about the cases of rejection of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Director General of Health highlighted the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. “When we decide to put a vaccine into circulation and administer it, it is because it gives us guarantees that it is safe, effective and of quality. If a vaccine is offered, whatever the brand, you must accept it. The risk of having illness, serious illness, hospitalization and undesirable death is much higher, ”he said.
“Refusing a vaccine is refusing to protect yourself and refusing to protect yourself against a serious disease. The alternative is that these people continue to be vulnerable and susceptible to contracting a disease that can be serious and lethal, ”said Graça Freitas.
