“We estimate that by the end of May or in the third week of May, everyone over the age of 60 will have had at least one dose" of the vaccine against Covid-19, Health Minister Marta Temido announced at a health conference.

The General Director of Health, Graça Freitas said that in this phase of vaccination, people with active cancer disease (undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy), people in a transplantation situation, people with immunosuppression, neurological diseases and mental illness will be included in the priority groups, alongside those affected by obesity (over 35 percent of body mass) and diabetics.

Graça Freitas specified that the vast majority of diabetics will be vaccinated by their age group.

At the press conference, the Minister of Health explained that (at the time of going to press) 7 percent of the Portuguese population already had completed the vaccination process, that 91 percent of people over 80 years of age have had at least one dose and that 58 percent have had both doses.

Marta Temido also said that 96 percent of registered Covid-19 deaths occurred in people over 60 years of age.

"If we get everyone over the age of 60 vaccinated by the end of May or the third week of May, we will have that group protected and that is an important aspect for everyone's safety," she stressed.

Regarding the future of the vaccination plan, the minister added that Portugal has now entered a phase of greater availability of vaccines.

The same idea was reinforced by the director-general of Health and the coordinator of the task force for the Vaccination Plan Covid-19, Gouveia e Melo.

"We have now entered the abundance phase. The system is allowing the supply of vaccines in greater quantity and allows us to change the vaccination proposals and the vaccination plan", said Graça Freitas.

Gouveia e Melo maintained that the plan is preparing to face a new challenge, referring to the objective of the authorities to vaccinate at a rate of 100,000 people a day, seven days a week.

"All the experiments and tests done as well as the preparation indicates that we will be successful in making the vaccinations very fast from now on, confirming the arrival of the planned vaccines," he concluded.