"Portugal being the most vaccinated country against Covid-19 is an outcome of our society"

During a Web Summit conference, the Portuguese Minister of Health, Marta Temido claimed that "Portugal being the most vaccinated country against Covid-19 in the world is an outcome of our society and not the Ministry of Health or one single person".

At the tech summit in Lisbon, the Minister highlighted that now "the first step is to not forget the lessons learned". "Prevention is key to observing the future: we will continue to monitor infections daily, conducting the virus genomic sequencing, and controlling the vaccines’ efficacy. A few days ago, we hit the mark of 86% of the population vaccinated and we are now combining the flu vaccine with a booster, while keeping preventive measures in force, such as the use of masks", she noted.

Marta Temido underlined the outstanding work of the healthcare professionals, expressing her "huge respect and gratitude". "Now we need to make it up to them and retain them in public healthcare. We need them because they are the backbone of healthcare".

National and international cooperation was another key point in the work carried out to prevent and counter the pandemic. The Minister noted the usefulness, in the European context, of bodies such as the European Medicines Agency or the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

"In the first half of this year, Portugal held the rotating presidency of the European Union. We had a difficult start to the year and these agencies’ help was important. We then welcomed healthcare professionals from other countries and the feeling of solidarity was highly important", she said.