"We chose these five structures because they represent what is the hospital network of the National Health Service, the designated end-of-line institutions", said Marta Temido at the end of a working meeting on the Vaccination Plan to combat Covid -19.

The minister explained that they are designated as such because they are institutions in which it is necessary to “preserve in their capacity to respond not only to the Portuguese, of course, but also to support other health units”.

According to the minister, the vaccination will happen on 27 December, one day after the expected arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, and on the following days, and “it is the first moment of a phase” that will continue in the first week of January, although there is still no precise timetable because it depends on Pfizer's second delivery.

In this second moment, there will be an extension of vaccination to other hospital establishments, to other units of the National Health Service and "primarily to residential structures for institutionalised people", said Marta Temido.