In a statement recommending vaccination and immunisation against seasonal respiratory viruses, the ECDC warned that during the last campaign, flu vaccination coverage across Europe remained below the 75 percent target, both among vulnerable groups and healthcare professionals.

“Only Denmark (76 percent), Ireland (75 percent), Portugal (71 percent) and Sweden reached or came close to the EU target of 75 percent coverage”, the European centre stated, noting that most other countries reported flu vaccination rates well below 50 percent. It also added that among healthcare professionals in EU countries, the vaccination rate was even lower, averaging just 32 percent.

Every winter, flu epidemics “cause millions of infections across Europe, leading to hundreds of thousands of hospitalisations and tens of thousands of deaths”, ECDC stressed, warning that children are “particularly affected” by the virus.

The centre also reported that the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is responsible each year for around 250,000 hospitalisations among children and 160,000 in older adults, while SARS-CoV-2, the virus that cause Covid-19, continues to circulate across countries – prompting recommendations for vaccination among people with weakened immune systems, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses.

In Portugal’s current seasonal vaccination campaign, which began around three weeks ago, more than 1.2 million people have already been vaccinated against flu and around 716,000 against Covid-19.

The campaign runs until April 30, 2026, in health centres and around 2,500 pharmacies, aiming to vaccinate roughly 2.5 million people against flu and 1.5 million against Covid-19.

The second season of free vaccination against RSV is also underway, expected to cover around 76,000 children by March 31, 2026.

Following the first campaign, there was an estimated 85 percent reduction in hospital and intensive care admissions among infants up to three months old, and a 40 percent decrease among babies aged between three and six months.

Portugal has had a free and universal national vaccination plan since 1965, designed to protect the population against diseases with the greatest potential to threaten public and individual health, for which effective vaccines are available.