More Than 500,000 People Get a Flu Jab in the Campaign's First 12 Days, Three in Five of Them at a Pharmacy

More than half a million people in Portugal were vaccinated against flu in the first twelve days of this autumn's campaign, and three in every five of those jabs were given at a pharmacy rather than at a health centre, according to the first vaccination report from the Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS), released on Tuesday.

Between the start of the campaign on 30 September and 11 October, 507,465 people received a flu vaccine. Pharmacies taking part in the campaign gave 304,448 of them; units of the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS) gave the remaining 203,017.

Who has been vaccinated so far

Older people account for almost all of the early uptake. The DGS says more than 452,000 of those vaccinated are aged 60 or over, which works out at 13.8 percent coverage of that age group. Among people aged 85 and over, coverage is slightly higher, at 14.7 percent.

Those percentages may not match older campaign reports: this year the DGS calculates coverage against the annual resident-population estimates of the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), to reflect demographic change more closely.

Covid-19 boosters are moving more slowly. The same report counts 229,043 seasonal boosters, of which 141,736 were given in pharmacies and 87,307 in the SNS. Coverage is lower than for flu in every age group: it is highest among people aged 80 to 84, at 11.1 percent, and lowest among those aged 60 to 69, at 3.3 percent.

Where you can get the jab

The autumn and winter campaign runs until 31 March, and about 2,550 pharmacies have signed up. The rules on who can be vaccinated at a pharmacy differ between the two vaccines:

• Flu: people aged 60 to 84, and adults aged 18 to 59 with a risk condition, can be vaccinated at a participating pharmacy.
• Covid-19: people aged 70 to 84, and those aged 18 to 69 with a risk condition, can get the booster at a participating pharmacy.

The pharmacy age bands stop at 84, so people aged 85 and over, like young children, are vaccinated through the SNS rather than at a pharmacy. The SNS bought about 2.3 million standard-dose flu vaccines and 369,000 high-dose vaccines for this campaign, which for the first time offers free flu vaccination to children aged 2 to 4. We reported in September on how the children's programme was extended.

Pharmacies turn to an AI booking assistant

On Monday the Associação Nacional das Farmácias (ANF) said more than 800 pharmacies are now using a tool from the Portuguese company Sword that uses artificial intelligence to answer questions about vaccination and to book appointments. Sword projects that it could raise the number of people vaccinated at pharmacies by about 10 percent, or up to 100,000 more people, a forecast that has not been independently tested.

Hesitancy is not the only obstacle. A survey reported here last week found that almost two in three adults could not name the vaccines recommended for them, even though most said they trust vaccines.

What it means for residents

If you are aged 60 to 84, or an adult with a risk condition, check whether your local pharmacy is one of the 2,550 taking part; otherwise, contact your health centre. The campaign has five and a half months to run, but the risk for older people is already real: in September, an influenza A outbreak at an Estremoz care home killed four residents in the days before the campaign began.