“It is very important to realise that seasonal flu vaccination has a specific target audience. Not all people need to get the seasonal flu vaccine and therefore, considering that we are talking about a quantity of doses purchased by the country that will be around 2.5 million doses – regardless of the vaccines that are purchased by the pharmacies community - we realise that we have to ensure that people with these health criteria are the ones who get the vaccine”, he said.

“Vaccines against seasonal flu are not for all Portuguese. And this is very important to realise from the beginning; they are for the most vulnerable people in terms of age and in terms of their condition, such as pregnant women," added the government official, noting that this vaccination campaign was reinforced in a first phase by 140,000 doses and then, in over 300,000 doses in an “ongoing acquisition process”.

Marta Temido noted that the flu vaccination campaign started on Monday, focused on residential structures for the elderly and pregnant women, as well as recalling that in the previous flu vaccination plan "there were vaccines that were not administered" and that this year it should be all over by 15 December.

On the other hand, the Minister of Health indicated that current planning foresees the superposition of the flu vaccine with the administration of a third dose against Covid-19 to some population groups.