An initiative of the Portuguese Society of Pulmonology (SPP) and the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF), which since 2009 has been dedicated to monitoring in real-time the flu vaccination rate in priority groups, the report indicates that 73.4% of Portuguese people aged 65 or over have already been vaccinated against the flu, a coverage rate that drops to 59.7% if the population aged 60 or over is taken into account.
Data from the 3rd wave of the Vacinometer also show that coverage rates are above 70% among chronically ill patients, with 79.8% of patients with diabetes vaccinated and 71.6% of people with cardiovascular disease vaccinated.
If only the age group between 60 and 64 is taken into account, the vaccination coverage rate is 38.3%.
Among healthcare professionals, the total number of people vaccinated is less than half, with a coverage rate of 43.9% among those who have direct contact with patients.
Regionally, of the “vaccinated population aged 65 or over, 91.7% are from the autonomous region of Madeira, 89.1% from the Alentejo, 78.5% from the north, 73.5% from the metropolitan area of Lisbon, 71 .6% of the Algarve, 62.5% of the central region and 50.0% of the autonomous region of the Azores”.
The report reveals that 40.2% of those vaccinated did so on medical recommendation, 29.3% on their own initiative, 20% on work initiative, 5.8% because they are part of risk groups and 3.9% because they were notified scheduling by the National Health Service.
According to the data collected, there are still 34% of chronically ill patients who intend to get vaccinated this flu season and around 25% of people aged 65 or over have the same intention.
The Vacinometer also points out that with regard to the co-administration of the flu vaccine with the covid-19 vaccine, “77.5% of vaccinated people belonging to the recommended groups opted for co-administration”.
Among those who opted for co-administration, 78.4% did so because they felt safer and 13.8% did so on medical recommendation.