The executive order, signed by the Secretary of State for Health, Ana Povo, indicates that, in addition to the purchase of vaccines, “a budgetary impact of up to €7,600,000 is expected, corresponding to the remuneration that, in total, will be paid to pharmacies”, highlighting the objective of “ensuring high standards of efficiency and effectiveness” with this process.

“Based on the evidence that respiratory viruses circulate more frequently during the winter months, we intend to start the 2024-2025 autumn-winter seasonal vaccination campaign earlier and ensure that the largest number of eligible people will be protected by the end of November, providing greater protection during the period of greatest risk,” the decree states.

The Government’s decree praises the flu vaccination process in pharmacies, noting that “these pharmacies made a very positive contribution to ensuring that vaccination was carried out more quickly, which allowed population protection to be achieved in a shorter period of time.”

The reinforcement of the seasonal flu and Covid-19 vaccination campaign next autumn-winter is one of the measures in the Health Emergency and Transformation Plan, presented by the Government last May.

In this sense, the decree provides for the “expansion of the provision of the high-dose flu vaccine, free of charge, to people aged 85 and over, also ensuring the administration of this high-dose vaccine to all people living in residential facilities for the elderly”.

Although COVID-19 is no longer considered an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Government decree recalls that the European Commission continues to ensure access to the vaccine simultaneously in its member states and reiterates that the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) maintains the indication for vaccination adapted to the strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“Vaccination against influenza and COVID-19 is an extremely important public health intervention to prevent transmission, to reduce morbidity and mortality in people at greatest risk, and to enable the health system to manage winter pressures, helping to reduce the demand for health care and the likelihood of hospitalisation”, states the Government decree.