Next weekend, vaccination will again focus on young people, between 12 and 15 years old, and for the two days there were about 110,000 appointments, according to the task-force responsible for the process.

Thus, on 21 August and 22 August, a quarter of all young people in this age group (about 400,000) should be vaccinated on the first of two weekends dedicated to them.

In addition to those who have made the self-scheduling request for 21 and 22 August and those who have been called by the health services, the task-force decided to also open “Open House” walk-ins, similarly to what happened in the last weekend for 16 and 17 year olds.

Open House walk-in vaccines, which work during limited hours, does not require prior appointment, requiring only obtaining a digital password through the Ministry of Health portal (https://covid19.min-saude.pt/senha-digital-casa-aberta/), and is currently only available for over 16 years old.

The dates for the administration of the second dose are also defined. On the weekend of 11 and 12 September, young people will be back to complete their vaccinations, even before the start of the school year.

The second weekend dedicated to vaccination for this age group is on 28 and 29 August, with self-scheduling open for these dates until Saturday, and also including the 16 and 17 year olds.

According to the general director of Health, Graça Freitas, the decision to extend the process to both age groups was linked to the fact that there were fewer people enrolled than desired.

"Right now, we have more than 160,000 of these teenagers enrolled. In total there are about 410,000. It was self-scheduling, despite everything, positive, but it needs to be expanded and then there will be other methodologies to continue to attract these people", said Graça Freitas on 19 August in an interview with RTP.

According to the calendar defined by the task-force, the goal is to complete the vaccination process for young people by 19 September, close to the beginning of the school year. It is on this weekend that the second doses of the next “shift” will be administered.

The recommendation of the General Directorate of Health (DGS) for universal vaccination of children and young people between 12 and 15 years of age was announced on 10 August.

The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 began in Portugal on 27 December, 2020, with single-dose (Janssen) and double-dose (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca) vaccines currently being administered. On 19 August, the country reached 70 percent of the population with full vaccination against covid-19.