Today, September 7th 2021, took place the delivery ceremony of a batch of 130 thousand of AstraZaneca vaccines against COVID-19 donated by Portugal.

In the ceremony, held at the President Nicolau Lobato International Airport, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno and the Minister of Health, Odete Maria Freitas Belo, officially received the COVID-19 vaccines from the Portuguese Ambassador in Dili, José Pedro Machado Vieira.

This is the second batch of vaccines offered by Portugal, after the first 12 thousand vaccines arrived last July. This donation is part of the Portuguese Government’s commitment to donate at least 5% of the doses purchased by Portugal to Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and Timor-Leste. Portugal, as a Member State of the European Union, has also contributed to the COVAX mechanism.

The delivery ceremony was also attended by the World Health Organization Representative in Timor-Leste, Bilal Aurang Zeb Durrai and the Ambassador of the European Union, Andrew Jacobs,

Timor-Leste has already received about one million doses of vaccines from the COVAX mechanism, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Portugal.

Across the country, more than 600,000 doses of vaccine against COVID-19 have been administered. More than half of the population over 18 years old has received at least the first dose and about 28% already have fully vaccinated. In the Municipality of Dili, almost 75% of the adult population has already received at least one dose and almost 60% already have been fully vaccinated.