In an interview with Observador radio, the Prime Minister announced that the plan to vaccinate against Covid-19 would be presented on Thursday, 3 December, rejecting the fact that Portugal is lagging behind other countries as he considers the country to be "well in time".

"What is crucial is that on the day the vaccine is available, everything is in place for the vaccine," he said.

To the Lusa agency, António Costa's office said that on the eve of this presentation, on Wednesday, 2 December, the Prime Minister receives at the official residence in Lisbon, the team that is preparing this plan.

This meeting will also be attended by the Ministers of State and of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, of Health, Marta Temido, of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, and of National Defence, João Gomes Cravinho, as well as the Deputy Secretary of State of the Prime Minister, Tiago Antunes.

António Costa assured that Portugal began working on this plan practically from the start of the pandemic and that he placed the maximum order for each lot to which he was entitled, with the logistical plan "being put together and worked on".

"The European Medicines Agency expects to license these vaccines between the end of December and the beginning of January, so we have to have things ready for when the vaccine exists," he pointed out, conveying a message of reassurance about this process.

According to the Prime Minister, the European Commission has not yet given a date.

"I believe that the European Medicines Agency will make a statement today (1 December) saying the dates on which it has planned to hold the approval meetings for the vaccines and before that the vaccines are not valid, they cannot be distributed," he said, underlining that "this will be the biggest global vaccination operation that humanity has ever seen and that effort has to be joint and articulated