Questioned by members of the parliamentary committee on Health, Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo began by stating that the 150 centres will open on 11 April, but said that "what is at stake is to have these centres operating from the beginning of May".

Gouveia e Melo said that the means for hiring the personnel needed for these units are currently being negotiated, with an estimated number of 2,500 nurses, 400 doctors and 2,300 assistants.

Gouveia Melo said that the professionals will essentially be from the National Health Service (NHS), but others will be hired from outside of the NHS if necessary.

"The idea is to use up to 20 percent of the nurses that are in primary health care, as you know there are 9,000 nurses, so 20 percent is 1,800 nurses and then add to these 1,800, the nurses that are needed and human resources that are needed for the rapid vaccination posts," he said.

According to the official, in the rapid vaccination posts, the efficiency of the process is four times higher than the vaccination in normal health centres.

"With the same human resources we manage to have a much higher efficiency in this process, besides the convenience, besides the physical safety, because they are done in large airy spaces, which allows for greater safety and physical distance," argued Gouveia e Melo.

Left Bloc MP Moisés Ferreira considered it to be "a little paradoxical", at a time when the Portuguese Nurses' Union says that there are almost 2,000 professionals in precarious situations with the risk of being sent away from the NHS, that the coordinator of the task force says it is necessary to hire thousands of professionals, including nurses.

"Maybe there is an obvious solution here, which is not to dismiss the nurses who are in a precarious situation, but to give them a dignified and stable contract so that they can also ensure this contracting", defended the Bloquista MP.