An “open house” of vaccination for those over 70

The coordinator of the ‘task force’ for the vaccination plan against covid-19 has announced that an “open house” will be created, so that people over 70 years old who were left out of the process can be vaccinated without registering.

“We are structuring an open house on vaccination for people over 70 years old. Anyone over 70 years old who goes to a vaccination post does not need an appointment and is immediately vaccinated”, Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo told journalists at the end of his participation in the National Congress of the Medical Association, which took place in Coimbra.

Gouveia e Melo said that the team is doing “a more thorough job” of trying to find people “who escaped the vaccination process”, namely through working with firefighters, parish councils and police forces, and this new measure is ” one more step” in this direction.

“After all the other attempts and to ensure that no one is left behind, let’s make one more effort. As long as the person proves that they are older than a certain age, they are vaccinated without even being scheduled. As these people are very few, they don’t have to queue at the entrance to a vaccination post,” he said.

According to Gouveia e Melo, the idea, which could go forward as early as next week, is not yet fully structured, but it could involve the opening of a specific time or a specific day for that purpose.

On that particular day or time, “all people of a certain age who present themselves at a clinic will be vaccinated”, not least because, being over 70 years old, they have “absolute priority” over all others, he clarified.

Before speaking with the journalists, Henrique Gouveia e Melo participated in a table of the National Congress of the Medical Association, which took advantage of the vice-admiral’s presence to pay him a symbolic tribute for his work in coordinating vaccination against covid-19.