The vaccination process started at the Casa de Idosos in São José das Matas in the presence of several members of the Government, including the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, on a day when vaccination is also taking place at Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Cardigos, another nursing home in the municipality of Mação, covering a total of 112 residents and employees of the two institutions of this municipality in the district of Santarém.

The first vaccinated, at 3:10pm, was Celeste Heleno, 100 years old, followed by a 94-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman, with a total of 56 people at the São José das Matas Elderly Care Center, to which they will be added another 56, at the nursing home of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Cardigos.

After the process started on 27 December with the administration of the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to health professionals, the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, had assured that the first phase of the vaccination campaign would be extended to households located in the 25 municipalities at extreme risk of incidence of covid-19, according to the latest data from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).