"I followed the advice of the director-general of health, whom I saw on television saying: vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate,” de Sousa told journalists after having his jab.

As the minister, Adalberto Campos Fernandes, looked on, the head of state confessed that he had put off having the vaccination because of the unseasonally warm weather.

“The weather kept being good, and I just put it off and put it off,” he said. “Now, I’m not putting it off.”

"The appeal I make here is that everyone follow this example, mine and that of the minister, who has also been vaccinated,” he said.

“With one difference: I belong to [one of] the risk groups, because I’m already not only in my sixties, but old - that is, over sixty-five.”

As he noted, this year's “strain [of flu] may be more complicated” because the virus "gains resistance year by year”.