Portugal: More than 80% of the population is now fully vaccinated – How many say no

THE Portugal has fully vaccinated 80% of the population, according to official figures cited by Reuters (81.5%, according to the Politico tracker), to become one of the most vaccinated countries in the world, which has allowed it to lift most of the restrictive measures to address the Covid pandemic.

Earlier this year, Portugal was hit by a severe outbreak of the epidemic and has since vaccinated 8.2 million people out of a population of 10 million, according to the DGS health service.

Almost all people over the age of 65 and half of young people aged 12-17 have now been fully vaccinated.

“I do not care if we are No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 in the world,” said the head of the vaccination campaign, Rear Admiral Henrique de Gouvia e Melo, during a visit to a vaccination center near Lisbon.

“What I want is for the virus to be tested, for as many people as possible to be vaccinated so that the virus does not have room to circulate,” he said outside the center to the applause of those present.

The Portuguese Rear Admiral has been praised for organizing a rapid vaccination campaign, which alone is not enough to effectively vaccinate a population, as has been shown in similar cases in other countries.

He says Portugal started vaccinations at the same rate as other European Union countries, but as anti-vaccination movements developed elsewhere, Portugal, where only 3% of the population consider themselves “negative”, accelerated the vaccination campaign.

He warned, however, that the fight against Covid was not over until all countries, rich and poor, had access to vaccines. “We vaccinate in the richest countries and then there is zero vaccination in the poorest countries. “I can not agree with that, not only from a moral point of view, but because it is not a good strategy and a good national attitude.”