In an interview with Público newspaper, Margarida Tavares explains that the strategy of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) "is more cautious" - the plan was to vaccinate only people aged 60 and over until December - because the authorities wanted to concentrate the age groups at greatest risk, but that the age for vaccination will soon drop to 50 years.

"This measure will be announced by the Directorate-General for Health soon", she revealed.

Margarida Tavares recognises that the vaccination rate for people over 80 years old - which is below 70% - is lower than what the Government would like and calls for the vaccination of the elderly: "We would like it to be more and I appeal to all the older people: be sure to get vaccinated".

Regarding winter, she recognises that "it will not be easy", with the simultaneous circulation of the virus that causes Covid-19, the flu and the respiratory syncytial virus.

Return of the mask?

The Secretary of State also talks about the contingency plan for the winter that the Government is preparing and, as for the meeting of experts scheduled for Friday at Infarmed, she says that "it will be a moment of reflection and transparency".

However, she warns that masks "have not disappeared" and that they are "highly recommended for people who have respiratory symptoms, when they are close to other people".

"We will strongly recommend them in closed spaces. Eventually, we will make stricter recommendations for public transport, for example", she revealed.