'Trust the system', health chief tells Portuguese angry at slow vaccine roll out

Portugal's health chief sought to reassure people in the coronavirus-stricken country that they will get vaccinated, as anger spreads over delays and queue jumping.

Portugal's health chief sought to reassure people in the coronavirus-stricken country that they will get vaccinated, as anger spreads over delays and queue jumping. For much of the past few weeks, Portugal has suffered the highest per capita rates of deaths and new infections in the world. Meanwhile, like other EU countries, it has been far slower than Britain or the United States to roll out vaccines.

"Everyone will be vaccinated - we cannot all get (a shot) on the same day. There are priorities," health chief Graça Freitas told reporters. "People must trust the system. The system will invite everyone to be vaccinated." Several mayors, a doctor's husband and even a priest's mother have been vaccinated ahead of time in Portugal, where vaccines are still being prioritised for frontline health workers, care home residents and those aged over 80.

Opposition party PSD said those responsible should face criminal charges, amid heavy criticism from lawmakers, unions and frustrated citizens towards queue-jumpers. "Vaccination fraud undermines citizens' confidence in their institutions," Portuguese nurse Mario Macedo wrote on Twitter. "Vaccines are scarce (and) fraud can delay the goal of protecting the most vulnerable."

The head of the country's vaccination task force, Francisco Ramos, stepped down on Wednesday, over what he acknowledged were "irregularities" in the process of selecting which workers should be vaccinated at the Red Cross Hospital where he is the chief executive. In a country of 10.3 million people, only around 350,000 have so far received any vaccine, of whom 75,000 have had a second dose.

"It is a hope, it is a positive thing and it is going well so we shouldn't get caught up with the things that are not going as well," Freitas said. Discontent with vaccination has reached the country's famed 'pasteis de nata' custard tarts. Over the weekend, a regional unit of ambulance service INEM said it had used leftover COVID-19 shots to vaccinate workers of a pastry shop next door to its building in the city of Porto - prompting questions over why the shots had not gone to priority workers.