Vaccine rollout in Portugal

[Bird on a Fire]

Portugal has got 1% of its population vaccinated, which is only 106,000 people. https://www.jn.pt/nacional/infografias/ ... 39630.html

They started off with the most vulnerable groups - care homes and other long-term facilities, plus their staff of course - which will have been extra fiddly. The full rollout will be done via GP surgeries, which are a bit chaotic at the best of times but have been handling all this sh.t pretty well so far.

Interestingly, Portugal is 8th in Europe for number of vaccines administrated, ahead of places like France and Norway. But per capita is a bit behind the EU average:

share-people-vaccinated-covid.png (515.33 KiB) Viewed 2263 times

(Obviously they're sticking to the manufacturer's schedule here).

[Bird on a Fire]

Vaccine numbers now added to the government dashboard.

About 560k vaccines have been administered, of which about 350k are first doses and 210k second doses. So, with a pop of 10m, about 3.5% are fully at least partially covered.

That's started with folks in residential care and the staff that work there.

Cases are now back down where they were before the second wave, suggesting that strict lockdowns are pretty effective even when you don't have significant vaccination coverage.

[Bird on a Fire]

Interestingly all the EU countries seem to be proceeding at about the same rate, suggesting that the big issue is vaccine supply rather than the logistics of administration.

This is, tentatively, good news for poor countries with weak governance/health infrastructure - they never had a chance of buying the first customers, but I'm cautiously optimistic they'll be able to get doses into the community as fast as they arrive.

[Herainestold]

Interestingly all the EU countries seem to be proceeding at about the same rate, suggesting that the big issue is vaccine supply rather than the logistics of administration.

This is, tentatively, good news for poor countries with weak governance/health infrastructure - they never had a chance of buying the first customers, but I'm cautiously optimistic they'll be able to get doses into the community as fast as they arrive.

Vaccine supply in Europe is limited because so much of it is being exported.

[Bird on a Fire]

Exported to...?

[Herainestold]

Exported to...?

Outside Europe. I expect things will improve as more vaccines are approved and production in other countries is ramped up.

[Bird on a Fire]

Portugal's just past a million doses administered. As they're sticking to the manufacturer's dosing schedule a lot of that is second doses - up to about 7.5% of population with at least 1 dose, and 3% with both doses. Mostly those are patients and staff in residential homes. Seems to be pretty standard for the EU.

Meanwhile, the lockdown has brought cases right down to where they were at the end of last summer - 1,414 in hospital / 354 in intensive care. Even the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas are back to yellow on the map. No plans to unlock yet, except that it will be done slowly, one thing at a time, and with caution, according to the health boffins.

https://covid19.min-saude.pt/ponto-de-s ... -portugal/

[shpalman]

Portugal approves the AstraZeneca vaccine for the over-65s

[Bird on a Fire]

They opened up booking for 30+ yesterday. My first shot is on the 13th.

[sTeamTraen]

They opened up booking for 30+ yesterday. My first shot is on the 13th.

My rule of thumb is that the later a country opens up to under 30s, the better it is, in that—all other things being equal, such as the efficiency of the distribution network—every country gets the same number of doses per million from the EU deal, and they won't typically open up for younger people until the older ones have either had or refused the vaccine.

The 19-year-old son of a friend who lives in France had his second jab two weeks ago, which suggests that France has quite a problem with refusal.

[Bird on a Fire]

Number one in the world! (Including first doses only)

Seventeenth in the world for complete doses, though a lot of tiny islands are in the top spots. And how has Gibraltar managed to vaccinate 116% of its population?!

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

[Herainestold]

Number one in the world! (Including first doses only)

Seventeenth in the world for complete doses, though a lot of tiny islands are in the top spots. And how has Gibraltar managed to vaccinate 116% of its population?!

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Excellent! Congrats to Portugal.

[Gfamily]

Number one in the world! (Including first doses only)

Seventeenth in the world for complete doses, though a lot of tiny islands are in the top spots. And how has Gibraltar managed to vaccinate 116% of its population?!

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Usual explanation is that population figures are based on old data so aren't accurate.

Add in guest workers who wouldn't count as residents and it's relatively straightforward, particularly for small initial numbers.

[Sciolus]

And how has Gibraltar managed to vaccinate 116% of its population?!

According to More or Less the other week, Gib has done lots of Spanish commuters.

[Bird on a Fire]

Makes sense, thanks both.