Little Portugal is marching away from the rest of the world. Almost 85 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. That is not just more than 20 percent than in Germany: According to “Our world in data”, Portugal is number one internationally. Within Europe, the Iberian Peninsula is at the top. Spain has a vaccination rate of almost 77 percent. At the current vaccination rate, it could be 90 percent there in November. In Portugal, this percentage will be reached sooner - without constraints and new regulations, as in Italy for example. Night week the government lifts almost all remaining restrictions. From October 1st, all seats in restaurants and at cultural events may be occupied. Bars and nightclubs that have been closed since March 2020 can reopen.Face masks now only have to be worn in public transport, at major events, in nursing homes, hospitals and shopping centers. Now it comes down to the responsibility of each individual, said Prime Minister António Costa.

Hans-Christian Rößler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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The popular holiday country has organized its vaccination campaign like a general staff.

It's not a coincidence.

The Rear Admiral of the Navy Henrique Gouveia e Melo has been responsible for this for a good six months.

He used to command frigates and submarines.

In February he took over the management of the vaccination campaign, which until then had progressed slowly, from a civilian.

"This uniform was a symbol of the need to roll up your sleeves and fight the virus," he told the AP news agency.

Instead of relying on the small public health centers, as with the flu vaccinations, Gouveia e Melo began to use large sports facilities. The vaccination streets were like an "assembly line", as he himself said. In an army hospital, soldiers were used as guinea pigs to find out the fastest way to set up the vaccination route. When enough vaccine was available from June onwards, things really started. “We won a battle, but I don't know if we won the war on the virus. It's a world war, ”says Gouveia e Melo.

This would not have been possible without the great confidence that the Portuguese have placed in their military and health system since the Carnation Revolution. Long before Covid, the vaccination rate for measles, rubella and mumps was 95 percent, higher than almost anywhere in the EU. “The first national vaccination campaign started in 1965. It was free and accessible to everyone. The success was enormous, and since then the Portuguese have understood the individual and collective benefits of vaccination and have trusted science and medicine, ”says epidemiologist Pedro Simas. But fear is also a decisive factor. “In January and February of this year, the Portuguese experienced one of the worst waves of Covid-19 infection and death in the world. Since then, restrictions such as the distance requirement,Mask requirement and compliance with vaccination regulations were followed in an exemplary manner, ”says the lead researcher from the Institute for Molecular Medicine at the University of Lisbon.

Social and family sense of responsibility

This is also confirmed by surveys. According to the latest Eurobarometer, for 87 percent of Portuguese people, the benefits of vaccinations outweigh the possible risks; nowhere else in Europe are there so many. A clear majority even consider vaccination to be a “civic duty”. Similar to Spain, some scientists also cite a sense of social and family responsibility as an important reason for this - in no other country are so many organs donated as in Spain. It was also the economic crises that contributed to the fact that the younger generation lived longer with their parents and grandparents than in Germany, for example. But children and grandchildren do not want to endanger the elderly and therefore had themselves vaccinated as soon as possible - like the risk groups before: Among the Portuguese and Spaniards who are older than 60,the proportion approaches almost 100 percent. The willingness to vaccinate is also high among the young population. At the beginning of the school year, more than a quarter of the students between the ages of twelve and 19 were fully vaccinated, and almost three quarters had received a vaccination.

"In Spain there is great trust in the medical staff, the vast majority of whom are very active in promoting vaccinations," says the epidemiologist Antoni Trilla from Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. Even before the pandemic, vaccination skeptics played no role, which can also be observed in the high number of protective vaccinations in children by international comparison. Trilla says that many Spaniards realized how dangerous Covid is, especially due to the devastating first wave that hit the old people's homes hard. Spain was among the countries with the highest death rates.

The vaccination rate has been slowing down in Spain since the summer.

The last almost 25 percent of the population cannot be induced to vaccinate so quickly, but it is not hopeless, because very few are declared opponents of vaccination.

Nevertheless, in Spain, as in Portugal, people continue to rely on voluntariness.

There is no question of vaccination, a green passport or 2G rules on the Iberian Peninsula.