90,000 “escape second dose” of Covid vaccines…

This is a headline in tabloid Correio da Manhã today. What it means is that for reasons no one seems able to fathom, “at least 90,000 people have failed to keep appointments for their second dose” of the Covid vaccines. The vaccination task force is appealing to these people to turn up, without making any appointments, at any vaccination centre they choose: the pace of vaccinations has calmed considerably now, and there are plenty of doses to go around, a source has guaranteed. The roll-out so far has coincided with a marked slowdown in the rate of new infections in Portugal. Nationally the incidence rate is down to 231 cases per 100,000. This increases to 521 cases in 100,000 in the Algarve – almost certainly due to the numbers of people who have been visiting the region for their summer holidays.