Vaccination [by professionals] in the sector is important, "Paulo Carreira, president of the Portuguese Association of Professionals in the Funeral Sector, told Paulo Lusa, warning that in a "small funeral home, with few resources, if one of the team is infected, the probability of having to isolate the whole team prophylactically is huge ”.

"Soon, this funeral home will be unable to, for at least 15 days, be able to hold funerals," he declared, admitting that this situation "may be happening" and if "in large cities it is not so visible due to the number of funeral homes that it can absorb” The current need, in smaller cities this difficulty“ may have a greater visibility ”. Paulo Carreira said that professionals in this sector should be part of the priority groups for vaccination against covid-19 because they are at risk and because it is considered “an essential activity within the country's health chain”.

In terms of risks, the manager exemplified with situations in which the agencies have to “pick up a deceased person from a home where there has been an outbreak” or from a home. “We often don't know the conditions that we are going to encounter. We are protected, right, but there is always some risk involved ”, he noted.