25% of 12 to 15 year olds will be vaccinated over this weekend

Around a quarter of young people between 12 and 15 years old in Portugal will be vaccinated against Covid-19 during the weekend, the first of two dedicated to this age group.

Next weekend, vaccination will again focus on young people, and across the two days there will be around 110,000 appointments, according to the ‘task-force’ responsible for the process. 

In addition to those who have made the self-scheduling request for August 21st and 22nd and those who have been called by the health services, the ‘task-force’ decided to also open the “Open House” facility, similar to what happened in the last weekend for 16 and 17 year olds.

This facility, which works during limited hours, does not require prior appointment, requiring only obtaining a digital password through the Ministry of Health portal (https://covid19.min-saude.pt/senha-digital-casa-aberta/ ), and is currently only available for ages 16+.

The dates for the administration of the second dose of this age group are also defined. On the weekend of September 11th and 12th, young people will be back to complete their vaccinations, before the start of the school year.

The second weekend dedicated to vaccination for this age group is the 28th and 29th of August, with self-scheduling open for these dates until Saturday 21st, and also including the 16 and 17 year olds.

According to the general director of Health, Graça Freitas, the decision to extend the process to both age groups was linked to the fact that there were fewer people enrolled than desired.

“Right now, we have more than 160,000 of these teenagers enrolled. In total there are about 410 thousand. Self-scheduling, despite being positive, needs to expand so we will need other methodologies to continue to encourage vaccination of these young people”, said Graça Freitas yesterday, in an interview with RTP.

According to the calendar defined by the ‘task-force’, the goal is to complete the vaccination process for young people by September 19th, close to the beginning of the school year. It is on this weekend that the second doses of the 28th and 29th of August “shift” will be administered.

The recommendation of the General Directorate of Health (DGS) for universal vaccination of children and young people between 12 and 15 years of age was announced on August 10th, thus no longer limited to specific situations, such as cases where there are diseases causing a higher risk from Covid.

Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/