Large influx forced to close the ‘open house’ in the new vaccination center in Lisbon
The ‘open house’ modality at the vaccination center of the Lisbon International Fair (FIL) was suspended this Monday, between 15:00 and 17:50, after a “great influx” of users, said the councilor for Civil Protection at the Lisbon City Council .
“Right after lunchtime there was a very large influx of the ‘open house’ modality, which meant that, at the request of the health services, it was suspended from 15:00, because many people showed up”, stated the councilor Ângelo Pereira (PSD), explaining that the decision was to not harm the existing markings for vaccination against covid-19.
In a statement to the Lusa agency, the mayor responsible for the Civil Protection department said that the turnout for the ‘open house’ modality of vaccination, which is available for people aged 75 or over, was in the order of “two people”, without yet having accurate data.
The suspension of this modality lasted about three hours, with the service resuming “at 5:50 pm” in pavilion 4 of FIL, in Parque das Nações, where the new vaccination center in Lisbon was installed, which opened its doors less than a week ago and It is open every day from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, including weekends and holidays.
Regarding the impact on users, Ângelo Pereira indicates that there is a possibility of going to the Ajuda vaccination center, which is also open every day from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, or to return to the FIL center on another day.
“The goal is to comply, in terms of schedules, with appointments, so we cannot let the ‘open house’ harm this, but we follow the guidelines of the health institutions that are responsible for the appointments”, reiterated the mayor of Lisbon regarding the functioning of the vaccination center in pavilion 4 of FIL.
The Civil Protection councilor explained that “during the morning everything went according to plan, all appointments went well, within time and it was possible to have the ‘open house’ at the same time”, noting that the Lisbon City Council provides logistical support in the vaccination process, but the issue of scheduling is the responsibility of the health services.
“I take this opportunity to make an appeal for people to appear at the vaccination centers at the appointed time, not to show up hours in advance, so trust the system, because there are no delays. It is important not to generate queues as people arrive at the right time. marked “, warned the social democrat Ângelo Pereira.
In response to Lusa, the Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Tagus Valley (ARSLVT) confirmed the suspension of the ‘open house’ modality at the FIL vaccination center, a situation that occurred because there was “a high number of people with appointments”.
“The suspension of the ‘open house’ modality that took place this afternoon had nothing to do with a lack of vaccines”, assured the ARSLVT, reiterating the appeal for people to comply with the schedules, because there are those who continue to arrive with hours in advance, the difficulty of the logistics and organization of the vaccination process.
Regarding the assessment of the functioning of the FIL vaccination center, which began operating on December 1st, the Civil Protection councilor pointed out: “it is flowing, it is going very well, we have had a lot of feedback, we have had cheers social networks, we have written records on the site of cheers, that things have gone very well.”
Currently, the municipality of Lisbon has two vaccination centers, one in Ajuda and the new one in FIL. To facilitate travel to vaccination centers, the local Lisbon City Council provides taxi transportation for users living in the capital, support that is completely free and can be requested by calling 21 817 2021.
About a week ago, the City Council closed three vaccination centers, namely Picadeiro (Principe Real), Social Services of the City Council of Lisbon (Areeiro) and Pavilion 3 of the Estádio Universitário de Lisboa, because these spaces that the city had for the vaccination “could not continue” to be provided by the owners, justified the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), arguing that the opening of the new center in pavilion 4 of FIL will double the vaccination capacity in the city.
“We had four centers in operation, with a capacity for 3,000 users per day. At the moment, we will have 6,000 users here, plus 1,000 in Ajuda, so the capacity is completely different”, stressed Carlos Moedas, as part of a visit to the center of FIL vaccination, the day before its opening.