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The universal vaccination process of all Portuguese against covid-19 will be carried out entirely in the NHS infrastructures: first in health centers and then in other facilities, possibly even in field hospitals and other similar infrastructures.
The plan will be released on Thursday. And the Infarmed headquarters in Lisbon will be the center of the universe. At 10:00 am another (13th) presentation session is convened on the “Epidemiological situation of covid-19 in Portugal.
In the afternoon, in the same space, the national vaccination plan against covid-19 will be presented. There will be a technical presentation and then the plan will be revealed by the head of government.
This Wednesday, at the Palácio da Ajuda, António Costa met with the team that drew up the plan, coordinated by the former Secretary of State for Health (and former president of the OPI) Francisco Ramos. In addition to the Minister of Health, the Ministers of State and Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, and National Defense, João Gomes Cravinho, as well as the Undersecretary of State of the Prime Minister, Tiago. Antunes.
After the meeting, the Minister of Health warned, in statements to journalists, that “the process [de vacinação] it will be long ”, so, until it is finished, it is imperative to“ not deviate ”from the current health protection regulations (use of a mask, social distance, respiratory discipline).
The general outline of the plan was revealed by Luís Marques Mendes, on Sunday, in the SIC, and the DN confirmed that the essential part of the plan is the one discovered by the State Councilor.
Start with the “greatest shortage”
The vaccine will be free, universal and voluntary, and will not be available in pharmacies (as is currently the case with the flu vaccine). First, you will start from the health centers. But then this process can be extended to other SNS facilities, perhaps even temporary ones (field hospitals, for example).
The beginning of the process, recognized Marta Temido, will take place in a “context of greater scarcity”; But then “bigger scenarios” will appear, that is, the supply flow will increase throughout the year.
Older people (starting with those who live in households) will be at the top of the agenda. Then, home professionals, health professionals, security forces and civil protection agents.
Six different vaccine brands will become available over time: Pfizer (4.5 million doses), AstraZeneca (6.9 million), Moderna (1.9), Johnson & Johnson (4.5), Curevac (4 million) and Sanofi-GSK (no figures yet). Those of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca will involve two doses (with an interval of three to four weeks) and it is already known that the one of Johnson & Johnson is of a single dose.
Distribution is centralized by the EU in Brussels, which means that Portugal will start receiving vaccines at the same time as the other member states. The vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca (Oxford) and Moderna will already be very close to being validated by the EMA (European Medicines Agency).
Pfizer’s was approved on Wednesday by Britain’s “Infarmed”, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), thus becoming the first Western health authority to approve a vaccine against the disease.
Military coordinate distribution
As will happen in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium, Portugal should also have the Armed Forces in charge of the distribution operation.
Storage must be guaranteed by Infarmed, since it is the only entity that has logistical capacity with cold rooms for these vaccines.
Civil Protection will also have a role to play in supporting district and municipal structures, although the plan is not yet closed at this level.
To what the DN found with several sources that are following up on this process, the Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, has defended that it should be the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority that coordinates the mega logistics operation and distribution of the vaccines, but his Defense counterpart, João Cravinho, understands that it must be the General Staff of the Armed Forces to do so.
Cravinho recalled the success of the different operations, in the field of the fight against the pandemic, coordinated by EMGFA, such as the training actions for employees of nursing homes or the support to the Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, in the management of beds for covidual patients in Lisbon hospitals.
Portugal accounts for at least 4,645 deaths associated with covid-19 in 303,846 confirmed cases of infection, according to the latest bulletin from the General Directorate of Health.
On Friday, Parliament is expected to approve another fortnightly extension of the state of emergency. On Saturday, the government will announce containment measures for next month, thus covering Christmas and New Years.