On the first Monday since the vaccination of people aged over 45 started, at the vaccination center in the municipality of Oeiras began with a queue of thousands of people.
"It was already expected that this would happen this week, given the number of vaccines that we are going to give, but we don’t want people to be in queues for so long and we will try to improve the process," said Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo, who coordinates the task force responsible for the vaccination process.
On Saturday, he explained that Portugal would accelerate the pace of vaccination due to the spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, predicting that it will be possible to vaccinate around 850,000 people per week.
An expected consequence of this measure, as he admitted yesterday, are the long queues at the vaccination centers, like the one he witnessed at the Carlos Queiroz Pavilion, where an average of two thousand people are vaccinated daily.
At the Oeiras vaccination center, for example, there are two time slots – between 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm and between 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm – but due to ignorance, some people went to the pavilion in the morning.
“I suggest people, without appointment, to come after 5:00 pm”, said Gouveia e Melo, explaining that it is mainly at the end of the day that there is greater availability for people without an appointment.
This was also the recommendation that was being given to those who arrived at that vaccination center before the available time, as witnessed by Lusa, in order to try not to extend an already long wait.
In the early afternoon, around 1:30 pm, thousands of people formed a queue that went around the entire sports complex, and those who had already been waiting for hours met those who had just arrived, in a kind of circle that did not end and continued to grow wherever it could.
Mariana Gonçalves was one of the people who had been waiting for her turn for hours, despite having an appointment.
“I've been waiting since 11:30 am”, she told Lusa, saying that the day before she had accompanied her husband to his vaccination and the scenario was completely different. “I never expected it to be like this,” she admitted.
A few meters back, Ana Gil was also waiting her turn, but she said that despite the size of the queue, “it's not as scary as it looks” and the queue is moving at a good pace.
At that time, the team from the vaccination center had already placed chairs along the entire route in order to facilitate the wait and distributed water to people who continued to arrive.
The greatest experiment ever tried on mankind in history.
Terrifying,with so many unanswered questions the guinea pigs are waiting in line.
Look up mad cow disease and spike proteins and prions.
By James from Algarve on 06 Jul 2021, 14:22
...All for the flu.
Grow up, and realise nature has you protected.
Unless you have no issue becoming a human guinea pig.
Queue up if you wish and get your GPS chipped into your bloodstream.
At the end of the day the authorities love more sheep
By Geoffrey Hicks from Lisbon on 06 Jul 2021, 14:37
Geoffrey and James, have you forgotten to put M.D. after your names?
GPS, gosh, people still believe that. hahahah
You two ''do your own research'' and ''search outside of google'' i bet
By Jimmy from Algarve on 06 Jul 2021, 15:32
I'm sure there is a much better way than obliging people to wait on endless lines exposed to the elements for hours! What about the old, frail or sick and what a waste that represents? Fortunately, I am done with the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine since early March and June! For now as we don't know about what might coming in!
Where I live - and this is far from perfect - I just had to register on-line and freely choose the time and place either through the public health system or a private pharmacy. All that requiring only a short trip, identification and filling of a quick form with a wait of less than 10 minutes for each shot taken a little over two months apart! Of course, no money or leverage of any kind ("cunha") was involved!
By Tony Fernandes from Other on 06 Jul 2021, 16:23
C'mon ewe guys! It's not that baa-aa-aa-aa-aad. Temperatures in Portugal are going up, but it's not from a blast of hot air from Africa! Look up "full of hot air," "wasting your breath, " "sound like a broken record." Question, does the GPS go in at the first shot, or the second. I'm waiting for my second Moderna....oops, gotta go. I need a tissue, I seem to be drooling.
By William from Other on 06 Jul 2021, 16:26
I thought that ignorant Trumpers only existed in the USA but they have infected even folks here in Portugal with their nonsense about being guinea pigs and mad cow disease and the funniest of all, GPS chips. Probably a lack of education but sad comments anyway.
By Jan from USA on 06 Jul 2021, 19:12