In an interview with TSF and Jornal de Notícias, Graça Freitas revealed that the country has an "excellent rate of vaccination", making a prediction that "in early September, about 80 percent of the eligible population will have received the first dose, and 70 percent will have two doses". "If that happens, and even though we have the delta variant in circulation, it already gives us a pretty good level of immunity. Without zero risk, and of course depending once again on the epidemiological situation at that time, I believe that we will be able to live our lives alleviated from the current measures."
In the meantime, Freitas left a warning: "From time to time, we will have to close the tap, because the virus is able to expand." The forecast given of the percentage of the population that will be vaccinated in September already takes into account the age group between 12 and 15 years, which currently does not have an authorized vaccination. Although the technical opinion of the vaccination commission for these ages has not yet been announced, Graça Freitas said she has read it and with full transparency, says that there will be such authorization.
The bet on vaccinations is the most effective way to date found to try to control the virus, reducing its action to a minimum, but it is not foolproof, since "this virus, due to its ability to multiply and mutate, is not a candidate to be eradicated", she warns. A reflection of this is the fact that cases of infection occur in people already vaccinated. According to the Director General of Health, a total of 2,984,095 people with a complete vaccination schedule, and after 14 days on the second dose, 3,580 who became ill were identified, which corresponds to 0.1 percent.