a sanitary system which the population trusts and a vice admiral skilled in organizing the immunization campaign against Covid 19. Here’s how the Portugal he has 87.9 percent vaccinated of the population (the highest figure in the world) and the 100 percent of who has more than 65 years old. The capacity shown by the National Health Service of eradicating diseases is present in the collective memory of the Portuguese and made them aware of health issues. “The Portuguese have a strong esteem for their national health system,” he said Cristina Barros, researcher on health and epidemics at the Lisbon Institute of Social Sciences. A trust, he says, “due to the fact that the primary care system works well” and “also extends to the national vaccination commission and its recommendations”. The favorable attitude towards vaccinations found in Portugal has links with the still very vivid memories among the population of the damage caused by polio and from measles which have been a strong social concern up to seventies.
But the success of the Portuguese vaccination campaign is also due to the planning and to logistics. The skill displayed by the vice-admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo instead it managed to overcome the propaganda of the no-vax and the uncertainties of the bureaucratic machine convincing the recalcitrant and making Portugal an example for the world. Gouveia and Melo gave birth to one synergy among his team, made up of one thirty soldiers, mathematicians e medici and that of the officials of the Ministry of Health to allow coordination of 300 vaccination centers. The network that has been created has seen it at work 5 thousand people and allowed Gouveia and Melo to receive public ovations that moved him. “The vice admiral’s charisma and reliability have turned him into one of the most popular and respected figures in the country,” he said Miguel Prudencio, biochemist and researcher at the Lisbon Institute of Molecular Medicine.
Doctor Bruno Ciancio, director of surveillance at the European Center of Disease Control (the EU Agency for Diseases), believes that Portugal e Malta they will be the safest places of Europe during the winter when the new wave of Covid will take hold but the authorities of Lisbon they prefer to take a cautious line. The prime minister Antonio Costa stated that they could be imposed new restrictions to stop the spread of Covid as the holiday season approaches. Costa has clarified, however, as reported by the agency Reuters, that the restrictions “will disturb people’s lives as little as possible” and that they will not have to do with a lockdown. The number of new cases per day has grown again after a period of stagnation but the weekly incidence, as of November 22, is among the lowest in Europe with 144 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. 364 patients are hospitalized, of which 65 are in intensive care. These are lower numbers than the peak reached between 3 and 7 February with 6,680 hospitalized and 877 patients in intensive care. In recent weeks, daily deaths have never exceeded 15, while in January they were also more than 300 per day.
The Iberian Peninsula is slowly moving towards normality after loosening the rules on sociability but has not forgotten the importance of fundamental behaviors such as the use of indoor masks and on means of transport. The Portuguese approach is in stark contrast to that of the UK where the absence of restrictions has caused a sharp increase in infections and deaths. Hand sanitizers are practically everywhere in Lisbon churches voluntarily limit capacity, the Covid-19 certified is required in order to work in the shops, in the bar and in restaurants and children aged ten and over, a school, must wear masks. According to some, Portugal is no longer dealing with the pandemic but is, instead, the example of a country struggling with a endemic virus. Portugal’s battle against Covid is made simpler by a fundamental and irreplaceable ally: a temperate weather throughout the year with hot summers and moderate winters. The cold is limited to short periods and the southern regions can enjoy the positive influence from the Mediterranean. Covid-19, like many other diseases, has a seasonal pattern with peaks of infections followed by months of tranquility. In the cold seasons we tend to stay indoors more often in crowded, poorly ventilated rooms and in these conditions the viruses spread more easily carried by aerosol e droplets. In summer, on the other hand, people live more outdoors and crowds tend to decrease. Nations that can benefit from a milder climate are therefore advantaged and Lisbon is among them.
The Covid pandemic has forced the Portuguese government to change its priorities budgetary policy for 2021. The strategy aimed at consolidating and reducing the public debt it was suspended to protect families and businesses from the destructive impact of the pandemic. The precarious situation that has arisen has also involved the budget law of 2022 and caused the fall of the socialist government of Antonio Costa. The votes against of the Portuguese Communist Party he was born in Left Block, who supported the executive from the outside and who combined their votes with those of the center-right opposition. The premier had refused to accept several far-left amendments because they were deemed too expensive and this caused an irremediable break that now makes Portugal’s future a little more uncertain.