The Regional Director for Health urged all those belonging to risk groups to take the flu vaccine before the peak of infection, which is estimated to occur in the Azores by February.
 
Tânia Cortez spoke on the sidelines of an awareness action at Ponta Delgada Health Centre, revealing that the flu vaccination campaign has already covered 18,000 Azoreans.
 
According to the Regional Director for Health, about 44% of risk groups have proceeded to take this vaccine, but the goal is to "reach 60% of the target population."
 
Risk groups include people over 65 years, people under the care of nursing homes or continuing care networks, and chronically ill patients.
 
Tânia Cortez pointed out that there is still ignorance and myths associated with the flu vaccination. In this context, she also took the vaccine to demystify prejudices.
 
The Regional Director recalled that vaccination against seasonal flu is free and available at primary health care units in the archipelago.
 
In Mainland Portugal, there has been an increase in flu cases on the first week of December; the dominant virus is AH3, one of the strains included in the vaccine.
 
The session also included the presentation of an amendment plan to the Emergency Services of Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada.
 
According to the Clinical Board, the medical staff allocated to the Emergency Service should be readjusted. The hospital will create the conditions to reduce the number of visits with the aim of discouraging users to use Emergency Services in non-urgent cases. In these cases, patients should go to Health Centres.