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This year, different police stations in the country assisted 12 elderly people lost on public roads. A simple bracelet made it possible to take them back home or to family members, through the I’m Here Adults program, which results from a partnership between PSP and Santa Casa da Misericórdia.

In the right hand or in the left? More or less tight? At the door of an odd number on Rua Diário de Notícias, in Lisbon, the PSP agent Lopes da Silva delicately puts a bracelet on the thin and wrinkled skin wrist of Maria Fernanda, 87 years old and resident in Bairro Alto for 60. ” great “, she guarantees. And the agent continues. “Look, you know what this is for, don’t you?” “I’ve heard of it.” It is better to repeat. “This has a little number here, in which your [family members] contacts will stay, in case you get lost, if you have a problem on the public road, and don’t bring anything with you.” Then, Maria Fernanda shoots her conclusion: “I mean, from now on, I am a protected woman. Good!”. He skips his feet lightly on the building’s doorstep and claps his hands.

Age does not forgive, the popular sayings already warn. Over the years, the number of pathologies and the limitation of autonomy tend to increase. These are not nice accounts for those who have become accustomed to making their living in the city and, one day, find themselves on the verge of not being able to leave the house alone without getting lost along the way. Can a bracelet and a number change the safety of the elderly? That’s the purpose of the national program I’m Here Adults, a partnership between the Public Security Police (PSP) and Santa Casa da Misericórdia.

The initiative proposes to distribute a bracelet, which is assigned an identification number, to a more vulnerable population such as the elderly, who will help passers-by or police officers to help them and identify them if these people are lost on the public road. After the success of the I’m Here Children program, created in 2012, in 2015 PSP launched a pilot project for the older version. “We are talking about all the elderly, but it is more aimed at people who, due to a pathology or old age, may momentarily become unbalanced and lose track of time and space on the public road, without any contact or identification .

Artur Serafim explains that if a citizen or agent reports that a person is lost, he can call the national emergency number, 112, indicate that he has a bracelet under this program and dictate the number inscribed on it, so that the National Directorate of PSP can access this user’s profile and contact people nearby. Therefore, the bracelet does not have an integrated GPS tracking system. It works only as a “tool” of work, a means to cut a path.

About a thousand active bracelets

Elderly people lost in the streets of the city “does not happen daily and thankfully, but it is happening”, warns the PSP spokesman in Lisbon. As an example, he recalls that, this year, there were 12 cases at national level in which it was necessary to “make the connection between people and people’s families”. Reducing the geographical scale for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, there have been four cases since January. Figures that, in his perspective, justify the extension of the program to more and more people. “What we want is for there to be more adherence and we can thus safeguard the lives of many people.”

At the national level, the distribution of bracelets in the scope of I’m Here Adults has reached thousands since 2016. In all, 1388 bracelets were delivered, of which only 961 are active in the system. And Lisbon represents a large share of this total: there are currently 441 active. According to the PSP, the Campo Grande and Odivelas police stations are the ones that aggregate the largest number of deliveries to date.

The distribution process, explains representative Artur Serafim, “is very simple”. It can be requested by the carrier himself, if he is aware of his condition and feels that he wants to be safer every time he leaves his home. Or even by a caregiver, family member or friend, as well as by an institution that the elderly person is in charge of. To apply, simply fill out a form on the internet or go to a police station, so that PSP agents can help with the process. After an identification number is generated, the bracelet is activated and will be given to the elderly.

With the covid-19 pandemic, the challenges have changed. “We note that there is greater adherence and we welcome this behavior, because it is ideal for us,” says the spokesman. In response to the increased interest on the part of family members and the elderly to join the program, PSP now offers a wider range of police stations where the bracelets can be distributed. So far, this service is not available in all police stations, “because we do not have this capacity in terms of the number of bracelets”, explains Artur Serafim. However, the medium term objective “is that a large slice of the squares in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon have the bracelets”.

Many Portuguese are scheduling tests with Covid-19 for the days before Christmas to be able to reunite with the family, according to Unilabs Portugal, which only on December 22 has 1,500 appointments.

“Since the communication [on December 5th] of the Prime Minister regarding how Christmas will be, namely from Monday and Tuesday, we have had a very large increase in testing requests, namely PCR tests and also antigen tests, for the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of December, ”the president of the clinical diagnosis network told Lusa.

For Luís Menezes, this situation demonstrates that “people see testing as a way to create an additional safeguard”, in addition to the measures indicated by the Government.

The director-general of Health, Graça Freitas, called, in a recent press conference on covid-19, that the population does not take tests on their own initiative, and should wait for a request or for medical advice.

A position supported by Luís Menezes, affirming that the diagnostic centers “are available to support public authorities and individuals individually in this request, but it is necessary to remember that everything that is being said by public health authorities must be taken into account. in count”.

“Testing can be seen as another safeguard”, but the Christmas dinner should be held with a small number of people, with physical distance and with the use of masks whenever possible.

Luís Menezes said that this situation was not surprising because there were already some questions in this regard, but he said that it was “nothing normal” for people to schedule tests two weeks in advance and ask if they have the results until December 22 or 24.

Detection tests for covid-19 (PCR) are the most sought after, do not require a medical prescription, unlike rapid tests, which are “clearly contraindicated” because they have very low sensitivity for asymptomatic individuals, he said, stressing that “it is It is important for people to be aware that the test is not an absolute certainty that they are negative ”.

The president of the National Association of Public Health Doctors, Ricardo Mexia, told Lusa that “it is important that people realize that the various measures and precautions they can take in order to prevent the spread of the disease are complementary” and considered “a interesting strategy ”the use of tests to identify people who may be infected but are asymptomatic.

“It is a measure that seems interesting to me and that can also help to reduce the risk of an exposure that is expected to happen during the festivities”, said Ricardo Mexia, noting that the test “is not to allow to reduce the other measures” that contribute to the reduction of risk, but to complement them.

He pointed out the cost of carrying out tests as a condition and said that eventually there may be a supply problem, questioning “to what extent will there be capacity for so many people to be able to take the test in a very short period of time”.

For Ricardo Mexia, this is “one more example” that people are concerned and want to protect themselves and those they like.

The SYNLAB laboratory network has also been recording many RT-PCR test schedules for this period, but associated with travel.

“Customers started contacting very early (since the beginning of December) to make appointments also for December 24th, in order to be able to make their trips on December 26th”, he advanced, without specifying the number of appointments have been made.

The Germano de Sousa laboratories have been contacted by some people asking if they are open around Christmas, but as they are working until the 24th and there is no need to make an appointment, they have not yet seen an increase.

“Probably people who are interested in taking the test will arrive on the 22nd, which is what matters in order to be able to rest,” said pathologist Germano de Sousa, predicting an increase in demand at that time.

The coordinator of the National Vaccination Plan foresaw today that, in principle, the first vaccines against covid-19 will begin to be administered to the population at risk in early January, a day or two after arriving in Portugal.

Speaking on RTP’s “Big Interview” program, Francisco Ramos was convinced that on December 29 the European Union will give a positive opinion for the distribution of vaccines to member countries, admitting that the “big doubt is the quantity” of vaccines that will arrive in Portugal, with the national access of 1.5 million vaccines from Pfizer pharmacy in the first quarter of 2021.

As he explained, it is predicted that one batch will arrive in January and another batch in February (all from Pzifer), and it is estimated that only in mid-January should a decision be made by the health authorities on the final evaluation and acceptance of Moderna’s vaccine. .

If all goes well, Francisco Ramos admitted that in January it will also be possible to have access to vaccines from these pharmaceutical companies, warning however that there is some “uncertainty” citing that, for example, there is still no date for appreciation of the AstraZeneca vaccine, although there is still “hope” that there will be a decision in January or February.

“It is the best scenario, but there is still uncertainty, namely regarding the quantity” of vaccines available “, he said, reiterating his confidence that in February it is expected to have the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine.

In view of the anxiety associated with the arrival of vaccines, Francisco Ramos stressed that it is important to first obtain “safety guarantees” in all vaccines and reiterated that “it is not yet known what quantities (of vaccine) will arrive in the first batches”, pointing out how priorities to prevent mortality, namely of elderly people in homes, health and risk professionals and those who suffer from “severe disease”, associated with pathologies such as chronic kidney disease.

The coordinator for the National Vaccination Plan against covid-19 mentioned that 50% of deaths affect people “over 50 years of age”, mainly those with associated pathologies.

According to Francisco Ramos, if everything goes as planned, 950 thousand people will be vaccinated in this first priority until February and indicated that the elderly in the homes “will not be vaccinated on the same day”, that is, simultaneously, but as the vaccines are distributed to homes and hospitals, where people at risk will be marked “with location, date and time”.

It will also be the Health Centers that call for the vaccination of people with a medical declaration attesting to the clinical condition that allows vaccination in the first phase of the plan.

“What is the routine capacity is 50 thousand inoculations a day without jeopardizing the other normal activities of the Health Centers”, guaranteed Francisco Ramos, admitting that in the most populous cities other spaces could be defined to vaccinate people with right to inoculation against the coronavirus.

“In large cities it will be possible to find other spaces where the teams of the Health Centers operate” the vaccination, he said.

As for the Pfizer vaccine, he said that there will be only one delivery point on the continent, with distribution to the rest of the national territory, with the exception of the Azores and Madeira where the delivery logistics will be specific because they are islands.

Francisco Ramos was confident in the plan and pointed out that “in the best scenario” the experts admit that 50 to 70% of the population may be vaccinated by the end of spring, noting however that vaccination is not mandatory.

However, he warned that “we have to wait a few more months to see if vaccines do what they promise”, in an allusion to effectiveness.

The former Secretary of State for Health welcomed the support and articulation of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), INFARMED, Shared Services of the Ministry of Health and the Armed Forces (FA), saying that the latter’s support gives him ” an enormous tranquility “taking into account the joint work that he had in the past with the FA when he was at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO)

Unemployment and death of elderly people by covid justify the growth of this crime. PSP and GNR investigated 667 complaints between January and August this year.

Abandonment of pets has skyrocketed in major cities across the country. The growth of cases investigated by the PSP and the GNR is mainly due to the death of the elderly by covid-19 and the increase in unemployment caused by the pandemic. Most of the crimes occurred in Lisbon, Porto, Setúbal and Leiria.

Maria Quaresma dos Reis points out those two justifications for the growth of crimes of abandonment in recent months, namely in the capital. “Many elderly people who died by covid lived alone with cats. The family members, due to financial incapacity, did not welcome the cats, who end up going to the street”, declares the animal provider in Lisbon. In some cases, covid victims no longer had a family and animals eased loneliness.

SOS Animal recognizes the phenomenon of abandonment fuelled by the pandemic, but does not risk saying that the increase was due to deaths by covid-19. Sandra Duarte Cardoso, president of that association, points to the absence of studies on this issue, but admits that the death of the owners of dogs and cats has a meaning in their abandonment.

“There are cases in which the keepers die of various health complications and the families do not welcome the animals, leaving them to be abandoned. As the crime is attributed only to the keepers of the animals, the families are not responsible”, he laments. Loss of income also precipitates the practice of this crime.

SOS Animal and the Lisbon Animal Ombudsman point out that the financial inability to pay rent on houses in large cities causes residents to move and leave animals behind. The destination of dogs and cats becomes the streets.

The data, provided by GNR and PSP to JN, point to 667 cases of abandonment of pets, since the beginning of the year and until the end of August, throughout the national territory. Most of the situations occurred in urban centres, under the jurisdiction of the PSP. In the same period last year, the cases did not reach 500.

Animal mistreatment, on the other hand, follows the reverse trend across the country, with a special focus on the area under the protection of the PSP. In 2019, there were 538 crimes under investigation in urban centres. Currently, agents are investigating 377 cases.

Maria Quaresma dos Reis believes that this reduction in crimes of mistreatment can be explained by the thickening of affective bonds between people and animals during the quarantine period. There may also be cases where crimes are not reported. For example, “in situations of domestic violence, the victim watches cruelty, but does not report it to the authorities for fear of the aggressor”, identifies the provider.

“In many homes, quarantine and teleworking have strengthened the effective ties between animals and their keepers, avoiding many situations of abuse, such as violence or the lack of food and drink,” he says. Already

Sandra Duarte Cardoso understands that the number of cases under investigation does not reflect the real dimension of the problem. “Despite the fact that the authorities are increasingly aware of these situations, they face problems in the investigation, such as the lack of space to accommodate animals in overcrowded kennels or the unavailability of veterinarians to monitor the operations”.

Original article JN

The Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Parliament today reached agreement on changes to the European visa system to increase security in the Schengen area, increasing vigilance over short-term and residence permits.

“In response to the challenges of migration and security, the EU is improving its Visa Information System [VIS], an instrument used by the authorities to register and verify people applying for a short-stay visa to enter the Schengen area ”, informs the EU Council in a statement.

In this context, according to the structure in which the Member States are represented, “the German Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament reached an interim agreement today on the main political elements of a draft regulation amending the regulation on the VIS”

In particular, after the entry into force of this new regulation, there will be an increase in the security of the short-stay visa procedure and long-term permits and residence permits will be covered by this control system.

Until now, VIS only collected information on short-stay visas, but that will change with the agreement reached today, since all these permits allow free movement within the Schengen area.

At the same time, the VIS will become interconnected with “other relevant EU systems and databases”, namely the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Entry and Exit System (EES), the European Information Authorization System (ETIAS), data from the European police service (Europol) and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and also with Eurodac, which stores fingerprints of asylum seekers and migrants.

Another of the planned changes is the digitalization of the biographical data page of the travel documents, which will now be available in digital format.

To combat child trafficking, the age for taking fingerprints from children will be reduced from 12 to six years.

An upper age limit will also be introduced, including fingerprints of people over 75 years of age not included in the VIS.

In addition, the current photograph on paper will be replaced by a live facial image with sufficient resolution and image quality to be used in automated biometric correspondence.

Social Democratic MEP Paulo Rangel, European Parliament negotiator for the European visa system, welcomes in a statement these changes, arguing that the VIS reform agreement “substantially increases the capacity to fight organized crime and terrorism , having an impact on long-term visas, including the famous ‘gold visas’ ”, ie residence permits for investment in the EU.

“From 2023 onwards, it will be almost impossible to enter the EU with false documents”, says Paulo Rangel, stressing that “the enormous reinforcement of the protection of children against trafficking networks” is also very important.

Created in 2011, VIS is a database with biographical (name, sex, age) and biometric (photo and fingerprint) data of third-country nationals authorized to move within the Schengen area.

Also applying to ‘gold visas’, this system is addressed to the authorities responsible for borders, asylum and migration.

The reform now agreed has an estimated cost of 250 million and is expected to be implemented in 2023.

Translation by Safe Communities volunteer Eliana Tavares

António Costa spoke to the country this Saturday at 15h00 and announced the measures decided in the Council of Ministers for the forthcoming festive period. At Christmas, travel between municipalities will be allowed, but in the New Year this restriction remains in place.

The Prime Minister began by saying that measures to circulation on public roads would remain in force for the next 15 days from 13h00 on Saturday and Sunday in municipalities at extreme and very high risk.

For the Christmas and New Year period, however, exceptions will be adopted, subject to evaluation on 18 December to confirm that the trend of improvement in the pandemic situation is confirmed and that it will not be necessary to “pull the emergency brake,” announced the head of government.

The main exception for Christmas will be the permission to travel between municipalities on 23, 24, 25 and 26 December. In addition, on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day you can circulate on public roads until 02h00. The Government advises that at Christmas families should avoid meeting many people, avoid spending too much time without a mask and prefer open and ventilated spaces.

Another exception for Christmas will be the restaurant opening hours. On the nights of 24th and 25th December they can be open until 01h00 and on the 26th they can serve lunch until 15h30.

In the New Year the exceptions will not be as comprehensive. Movement between municipalities is prohibited between 00h00 on 31 December and 05h00 on 4 January.

The only relaxation will be on New Year’s Eve, when movement on the public road is now allowed until 02h00. On January 1st, however, it will be changed to 23h00.

No public parties or open to the public will be allowed on New Year’s Eve, nor gatherings on the public road with more than six people.

Restaurants can be open on the evening of 31 December until 01h00 and on the first day of 2021 they can serve until 15h30.

The prime minister explained that the government’s strategy was to extend the restriction measures until Christmas, and then to reduce them on 24, 25 December and 1 January, returning to the level of restrictions.

At the press conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers in which the measures to implement the new state of emergency were announced, António Costa called on families to “avoid fraternisation with many people”, long periods without masks and “in closed spaces, small or not very ventilated”.

“It must be a sharing Christmas”, he said, but “it must not be a time of involuntary transmission of the virus”. “May we all be effectively safe as a family,” the Prime Minister said. “Let us not share the virus. That cannot be our Christmas gift”. António Costa explained that it was vital to maintain the effort so that “the goal of reaching Christmas with as few infected people as possible” could be achieved since “the less infected people are, the lower the risk of transmission”.

By November, the executive had already divided the continent’s 278 municipalities into four groups, depending on the level of risk of transmission: moderate, high, very high and extremely high.

According to António Costa, there are 27 municipalities at very high or high risk which, due to a “frankly positive development in the last fortnight”, have changed to moderate, while another 12 come out of the extremely high level and two come out of the very high level.

They are: Abrantes, Albufeira, Barquinha, Batalha, Benavente, Cadaval, Campo Maior, Constância, Coruche, Estremoz, Idanha-a-Nova, Mangualde, Mora, Nazaré, Monforte, Oliveira de Frades, Paredes de Coura, Ponte de Sor, Porto de Mós, Proença-a-Nova, Redondo, Ribeira de Pena, Salvaterra de Magos, São João da Pesqueira, Tondela, Viana do Alentejo and Vila Nova da Vila Viçosa.

António Costa stressed the need to maintain the measures that have been applied in these territories for the next 15 days.

Source: RTP

In sum:

Following the renewal of the State of Emergency decreed by the President of the Republic, the Council of Ministers approved the decree regulating the measures to be adopted, throughout the continental territory, in the period between 00h00 on 9 December 2020 and 23h59 on 23 December, as well as the measures applicable considering the possible renewal of the State of Emergency.

The decree essentially maintains the current rules and establishes special measures for the Christmas and New Year periods. The government has therefore decided:

• To maintain the rules currently in force, as well as the staggering of their application according to the risk of transmission of Covid-19 in each municipality – moderate, high, very high and extreme. It should be noted that the ban on circulating on public roads will continue to apply on the weekends of 12-13 and 19-20 December from 13h00 in municipalities at very high and extreme risk.
• Update the list of at-risk municipalities and their distribution over the different levels.
• On 18 December, review the risk map and re-evaluate the epidemiological situation in each county, if necessary worsening the measures.

For the Christmas period:

• Circulation between municipalities:
• Circulation on public roads:
  • Night from 23 to 24: allowed only for those who are travelling;
  • Days 24 and 25: allowed until 02h00 the following day;
  • Day 26: permitted until 23h00.
• Opening hours:
  • On the nights of 24 and 25, restaurants are allowed to operate until 01h00.
  • On the 26th, restaurants are allowed to operate until 15h30 in very high and extreme risk municipalities.
  • On the 24th and 25th the closing times do not apply to cultural establishments.

• For the New Year period:
  • Circulation between municipalities:
    • Prohibited between 00h00 on 31 December and 05h00 on 4 January.
  • Movement on public roads:
    • New Year’s Eve: allowed until 02h00;
    • 1 January: allowed until 23h00.
  • Opening hours:
    • On the evening of the 31st, operation of restaurants allowed until 01h00.
    • On the 1st January, restaurants are allowed to operate until 15h30 in very high and extreme risk municipalities.
  • Public parties or parties open to the public are forbidden.
  • No street gatherings with more than 6 people.

The Government also decided to recommend avoiding:

• Gathering a lot of people;
• Spending long periods without a mask on;
• Closed, small and not very ventilated spaces.

Source: https://covid19estamoson.gov.pt/

State of emergency renewed until 23 December. “Pressure in intensive care” and “high death toll” worry the President.

The decision to renew the state of emergency, despite the slowdown in cases, is due to “pressure in intensive care” and “high number of deaths”, the President of the Republic said this Friday at 20h00 in a statement to the country. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that it was important to maintain efforts to relieve the pressure in hospitals. On vaccinations, he confirmed that the “arrival to all Portuguese” follows “extended timetables” and that “it will be a matter of weeks” rather than days. The President hopes that “this will be clear so as not to create excessive expectations and, therefore, immediate disappointments”.

The less intense regime on Christmas, if it comes to pass, will be designed for families to achieve the “desired and legitimate” encounter, but avoiding uncontrollability. The President of the Republic stressed the importance of these meetings being made with caution in order to avoid a possible “third wave” and lack of control in January. The aim, explains Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is to live Christmas, “but without concentrating on a single moment and with increased respect for the rules that can prevent widespread family contagion”.

The President of the Republic also left a message of praise to the Portuguese, for, in general, having complied with the rules, quoting the State adviser and neuroscientist António Damásio, who, in an interview with PÚBLICO, said: “There is a great distribution of generosity, patience and calm in the Portuguese”.

The presidential decree to renew the state of emergency, despite having a maximum validity of 15 days, should be renewed in the same way during Christmas week, to be in force until 7 January. The decree provides for approximately the same restrictions of rights that were already in force, and it is now up to the government to define the specific rules for each period. On Saturday, the Council of Ministers will meet again to define the specific measures which will be in force during the same period, in particular the Christmas and New Year periods.

“This decree keeps unchanged the framework that allows to impose, between 9 and 23 December, the same rigour for the current period and underlies the same purpose for the following period, until January 7, with the possible exception that is expected to be well understood and well experienced at Christmas,” said the President. “It is obviously in everyone’s interest that January may represent a consolidation of the steps taken in December and not a new and frustrating rise that will eventually accentuate the dimension of a dreaded third wave,” he warned.

Meeting the constitutional deadlines, the renewal of the state of emergency will last 15 days, beginning at 00h00 on 9 December 2020 and ending at 23h59 on 23 December 2020. But renewal is already guaranteed on these terms, at least until 7 January 2021.

The current state of emergency started on 24 November and ends at 23h59 on Tuesday 8 December. This renewal takes effect from 00h00 on Wednesday 9 December.

According to the Constitution, this legal framework, which allows for the suspension of the exercise of certain rights, freedoms and guarantees, may not last more than 15 days, without prejudice to possible renewals with the same time limit.

This Saturday, António Costa will announce the measures for this period.

Source: PÚBLICO and RTP.

PORTUGAL COVID-19 VACCINATION PLAN ANNOUNCEMENT

AIMS, PRIORITY GROUPS AND HOW IT WILL BE ADMINISTERED

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, considered that “today is an important day” for the country, since, despite the “uncertainties” that still exist around the vaccine, Portugal takes “one more step” in planning how this will be administered.

Marta Temido stressed that the vaccine will have a “universal and free character”, being made available “in several points” of the NHS and using “as much as possible” that network.

Francisco Ramos, vaccination plan coordinator, details objectives and priority groups

– reduce mortality and hospitalizations, especially in ICUs
– control outbreaks especially in the most vulnerable populations
– minimize the impact on the economy

Priority groups:

Vaccination plan will have three phases

Francisco Ramos, coordinator of the working group created to develop the vaccination plan, released the details:

In the first vaccination phase, which starts in January and should go on until March, as Francisco Ramos predicts, the vaccination points will be the usual ones in the country, that is, health centres. There are about 1200 of these points and will have the mission of vaccinating about 950 thousand people

The choice involves utilising experience, circuits and professionals already trained for the purpose, which, in this case, are nurses.

The exception is made for homes and for long-term care services, since in these two cases users will be vaccinated in their own places, sometimes by the nursing team itself, other times by a team that will go to the place for the purpose.

It will be up to the health centres to identify the Portuguese who, due to their characteristics, should get the vaccine in this first phase, find them and call them for their respective intake.

CENTRALISATION

Thus, the process will be centralized. “What we propose is a logic of command and control, not decentralized. We will maintain collaboration by all entities, but due to the timings and relevance of the process, also due to uncertainty, there should be a central command in the Ministry of Health, with DGS. With the support of the armed forces and security forces. We are outlining all operations in as much detail as possible, to find out what will happen up to the vaccine administration site. Raising security issues, we are ensuring the safety of everything. ”

Communication is also being prepared. “We want communication to be very broad, to generate confidence in the population, to guarantee the application of the vaccine.”

Thus, there will be a portal on the internet where all the relevant information is. “And telephone lines to support the general population and health professionals.”

PROCUREMENT PROCESS

The vaccine procurement process is coordinated by the European Union, says Rui Ivo, president of Infarmed, the National Medicines Authority, which has participated, on behalf of the Ministry of Health

After a brief introduction by Marta Temido, Rui Ivo, president of Infarmed, spoke to explain how the vaccine acquisition and evaluation process has been carried out. The process is the result of a coordinated strategy within the scope of the European Union, on which two pillars of action were created: guaranteeing the necessary quantity of vaccines, through several procurement judgments, and the adaptation of the evaluation rules.

Rui Ivo also said that there are six judgments concluded by the European Commission, noting that the first was made with Astrazeneca, on August 14, in which 6.9 million doses will be for Portugal. Note also for the 4.5 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine destined for Portugal, the 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and the 1.8 million doses of the vaccine for Moderna.

Regarding the evaluation of vaccines, the president of Infarmed reveals that it was done in a different way than usual, the so-called scientific advice, in which there was interaction between the authorities – in this case, the European Medicines Agency – and the companies that are developing the vaccine. This was done with the aim of saving time, not waiting for the completion of the studies, but starting to receive interim data throughout the trials.

PRIME MINISTER

We really have a light at the end of the tunnel. But the tunnel is still very long and quite painful. The 22 million do not arrive on the first day, they arrive gradually throughout the year 2021. It is therefore very important that they are defined priority criteria. The ones that the commission puts forward are clear: first, homes, health care, essential services. Second, more vulnerable populations, due to age or mobility – it is a criterion that we all understand. ”

Then, Costa recalls that there are imponderables – and some that are not in the hands of the country. “” Trust requires that the Portuguese be aware that it is necessary to speak the truth. But we must know that there is a significant set of imponderables: production, licensing does not depend on us. If there is a delay there, we have to readjust the timetable. ”

MANAGING UNCERTAINTY

PRIME INISTER SUMMING UP

Prime Minister closes with some confidence (always with warnings):

“The difficulties start here. And they will be growing. The operation will be easier in the first weeks when we have few doses and limited recipients. They will be much more demanding when there are more doses and the universe to be vaccinated wider.

It is an immense effort, but it is not less than what the Portuguese have been doing depriving themselves of freedoms, which families have been doing with bearing losses of income, which companies have been doing in order to survive. These crises will only be overcome when we have reached a sufficient level of immunization.

It is good to know that there is a light, but we still have a very long way to go. Even after we reach collective immunization, we will still have several pains to treat. But we are at a better point today than last week, much better than six months ago. So there is confidence ”.