Portugal: 1M vaccines for PALOPS and East Timor in Q2

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Portugal: 1M vaccines for PALOPS and East Timor in Q2

5:24 CAT | 25 Feb 2021

Photo: Lusa

Portugal is to allocate one million vaccines against Covid-19 to the PALOP countries and East Timor, which should start arriving in the second half of 2021, the minister of foreign affairs said on Wednesday.

“In round numbers, it means ensuring one million vaccines since our global purchase is around 20 million doses,” said Augusto Santos Silva, after the prime minister, António Costa, said on Tuesday that Portugal would redirect 5% of its vaccines against Covid-19 to Portuguese-language African countries (PALOP) and East Timor.

Santos Silva, who was speaking on Wednesday in Lisbon, pointed to the first half of 2021 as the expected date for the vaccines to start arriving at their destination, without giving details on each country’s distribution criteria.

“We expect the vaccines to start to be distributed over the next six months,” he said, stressing that the schedule is dependent on supply by pharmaceutical companies of the vaccines purchased by Portugal.

“Our best perspective is as early as possible over the next half-year,” he said.

Source: Lusa