The Government already authorizes the drive-thru vaccination centre at the Queimódromo

The Government gave the green light to the drive-thru vaccination centre at the Queimódromo, located in the Parque da Cidade, which will enable, at full capacity, to give two thousand shots per day.

The announcement was made by the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, to news agency Lusa, stating that he had been informed by the State Secretary for Mobility and coordinator of the Covid-19 fight plan in the Northern region, Eduardo Pinheiro, that both the Government and the Vaccination plan Task Force decided to authorize the functioning of the drive-thru centre, as Mayor Rui Moreira has been advocating for some time.

"I believe that we need five or six days, give or take, to have the centre running. There are logistic issues that have to be aligned”, the Mayor affirmed, furthering that the structure will work as a vaccination centre for those who have made the automatic scheduling of the vaccine.

The operationalisation of the equipment, which stands ready to use since February, will be the responsibility of the Regional Health Administration (ARS-Norte) in coordination with partner Unilabs and it will enable that people enter the premises by car, with no need to exit the car, to be vaccinated (as with PCR tests).

This vaccination centre follows the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the São João Hospital Centre, and it was ready to operate since last February. Just last May, the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, and the President of the Board of Directors of the São João Hospital Centre, Fernando Araújo, had publicly advocated the operationalisation of the drive-thru at the shortest possible notice. “It is a safe and swift way” to guarantee the provision of vaccines to the population, they have affirmed.

Porto City Hall will provide all the support, as requested, namely the permission to use the facilities and policing.

The structure will enable to lower the burden at the Army Transmissions Regiment (Regimento de Transmissões do Exército), which has been “excessive”, as has been seen on St John’ Day in Porto, on 24 June, when the Municipality activated the means of the Civil Protection to provide assistance to those waiting in line to get the shot.