Official data shows that 80 percent of Portugal‘s population has been properly vaccinated against the coronavirus, making it one of the most vaccinated countries in the world as authorities eventually lift most COVID restrictions- 19.
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The health regulator DGS reported Tuesday that the southern European country, which earlier this year faced the world’s biggest coronavirus outbreak, vaccinated about 8.2 million people out of a population of little over 10 million people.
According to the DGS, nearly all seniors over 65 and half of young people aged 12 to 17 are now fully vaccinated. In Portugal, anyone over the age of 12 is eligible for the vaccine.
After a weekend visit to a center immunization program near Lisbon, Vice-Admiral Henrique de Gouveia e Melo, the chairman of the Portuguese vaccination working group, remarked, “I am not concerned whether we are number one, two, or three (in the world).”
What I’d like to do is control the virus by vaccinating as many eligible people as possible so the virus doesn’t have freedom to maneuver,” he said outside the center, where he was applauded as he walked around.
Gouveia e Melo has received much plaudits for launching a quick vaccination marketing effort that has allowed Portugal to lift the majority of its coronavirus restrictions.
He added that the country began immunizing at the same rate as other European Union countries, but when anti-vaccination movements grew elsewhere, Portugal, where only about 3% of the population considers themselves vaccine “deniers,” accelerated the rollout.
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