Portugal unveils national vaccination plan for COVID-19

Portugal is aiming to vaccinate almost 1 million people against the coronavirus between January and April at the latest, and perhaps by the end of February, depending on the pace of vaccine deliveries, officials said on Thursday. The priority group for inoculations will include 400,000 people over age 50 who have illnesses that make them vulnerable to severe COVID-19, the government announced.

Head of the country's vaccine task force said that Portugal's health service would build on its experience of 40 years of implementing the national vaccination program, and direct vulnerable people to 1,200 already established vaccination points across the country. The Prime Minister said the vaccines will be optional, free of charge and mostly administered by the national health service. Portugal has officially recorded more than 307,000 cases of COVID-19 and has attributed more than 4,700 deaths to the virus.