The 300,000 doses of paediatric vaccines arrived in Arazede, in the municipality of Montemor-o-Velho, district of Coimbra, at around 8:30am, and will be stored here until going to vaccination sites to be administered to children aged between 5 and 11 years.

According to the Deputy Secretary of State and Health, who attended the reception of paediatric vaccines, paediatric solutions are all from Pfizer.

“It's a very important day because we have received 300,000 doses of paediatric formulation. At the same time, more than 500,000 doses of conventional vaccines for adults also arrived”, he said.

On this occasion, the government official also left a message of trust in science, in the vaccination plan, in logistics and in health professionals.

"Above all, I want to leave a message of confidence in the parents' decision to vaccinate their children aged between 5 and 11 years, as the first objective of protecting them and protecting the normalisation of their children's lives and life in society”, he said.

Portugal will start vaccinating children under 12 over the weekend of December 18th and 19th.

From the 18th and 19th of December, children aged 11 and 10 will be vaccinated, and some 9-year-olds may also be vaccinated.

On January 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th, children between 9 and 7 years old will be vaccinated, on January 15th and 16th it will be the turn of children between 6 and 7 years old, while on January 22nd and 23rd children of 5 years old will be vaccinated.

Between February 5th and March 13th, the second doses will be administered, when the complete vaccination schedule for this age group will be completed, estimates the Government.