About 300 thousand vaccines against Covid-19 and influenza were administered in the first week

Some 300,000 Covid-19 and flu vaccines have been administered in the first week of the vaccination campaign, which covers people over 60, people with high-risk health conditions, health workers and those working in care homes.

According to a report sent this Friday to the Lusa agency, 316,339 Covid-19 and influenza vaccines have been administered since Friday, most of them in community pharmacies (255,839) as well as in National Health Service facilities (60,500).

From Monday to Wednesday, “the daily norm reached 75-80 thousand daily doses,” the Ministry of Health reports.

The Covid-19 and flu vaccination campaign began on 29 September and will run for over 10 weeks, across approximately 2,500 community weeks and around a thousand vaccination sites across the NHS.

Last year, the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 and influenza began in early September. In the first week, 190,785 vaccines were administered.

“This year we observed an increase in the number of vaccines administered in the first week of implementation of the plan by more than 50%,” the Ministry of Health says.

This year, the General Directorate of Health expects to be able to vaccinate between 2 and 2.5 million people.

In the SNS, vaccination will be carried out by people under 60 years of age with risk pathologies, pregnant women and healthcare professionals (public and private) and other health services, students undergoing clinical internships, firefighters involved in transporting patients. and caregivers of dependent people.

Vaccination will also be carried out in homes, integrated care networks and in prisons by NHS staff.

Community pharmacies will administer the Covid-19 vaccine to over-60s for the first time, with around 6,000 pharmacists authorized to do so in more than 2,300 pharmacies that have joined the 2023/2024 seasonal vaccination campaign.

According to the guardianship, the pre-emptive call is aimed at the population aged 60 years and over with no history of previous vaccination with mRNA vaccines, “as this is a condition that requires, according to the relevant DGS standard, that vaccination be carried out in the SNS Block.”

“SNS units prioritized this group in the early days of scheduling. Likewise, proactive calls from SNS units will continue in the coming weeks, prioritizing the highest risk subgroups,” the ministry explains.