Portugal starts vaccinating teachers as priority group

Portugal on Saturday started vaccinations of some 78,700 teachers and workers from pre-schools and schools of the first four years of the nine-year basic education, reported Xinhua.

They are listed as one of the priority groups for the resumption of classes.

As the country began to de-confine, the Portuguese government authorized on March 15 the reopening of these educational institutions.

Education professionals were invited by the National Health Service (SNS) to receive the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at health centers and, in some cases, at the school's facilities.

Vaccinations for professionals from other educational cycles -- involving more than 280,000 teachers and school workers in total -- are scheduled to begin on the weekend of April 10 and 11.