Portugal Suspends Exports of Paediatric Vaccines and Key Medicines

The Portugal National Medicines Authority (Infarmed) has halted all outbound shipments of 59 prescription products—including paediatric vaccines for pneumonia and rotavirus gastroenteritis—a move designed to keep local pharmacy shelves from running dry.

Why This Matters

• Immediate effect: Pharmacies may no longer dispatch these medicines to parallel exporters, freeing up nation-wide stocks for patients.

• Child-focused vaccines: The embargo covers the Prevenar 13 and Rotarix/Rotateq lines, staples of Portugal’s national immunisation plan.

• More than vaccines: Supplies of asthma inhalers, broad-spectrum antibiotics, epilepsy tablets, and bipolar-disorder drugs are also ring-fenced.

• Penalties: Breaching the ban can trigger fines of up to €44,000, according to Decree-Law 176/2006.

What Has Been Frozen

Infarmed’s updated list, circulated to wholesalers last week, spans 59 medicines whose absence would carry a “medium to high” public-health risk. Besides childhood vaccines, the freeze covers:

• Respiratory therapies: Montelukast, budesonide/formoterol inhalers.

• Digestive treatments: Biologics for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

• Neurology stock: Levetiracetam for epilepsy, clozapine for resistant schizophrenia.

• Wide-spectrum antibiotics: Injectable piperacillin/tazobactam and oral amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.

Each item reached a “critical” shortage threshold in the previous month, triggering an automatic export lock under Infarmed’s risk-scoring matrix.

The Trigger Behind the Freeze

Portugal’s wholesalers routinely sell surplus stock to higher-priced markets elsewhere in the EU. When unexpected surges in domestic demand collide with manufacturing delays—now common because of raw-material bottlenecks in Asia—local inventories can plunge in days. By pausing exports, Infarmed deploys what officials call a “safety valve” to buy time while fresh consignments arrive.

How Long Could the Ban Last?

The prohibition is renewed monthly. If a medicine’s supply stabilises—usually defined as eight weeks of projected on-hand stock—it is removed from the embargo list. Industry sources say paediatric vaccines typically rebound quickly because they enjoy priority production slots at plants in Belgium and Ireland. Chronic-disease drugs, produced in smaller batches, may linger on the list for several months.

What This Means for Residents

• Parents: Routine infant jabs remain available at public health centres; check your local Centro de Saúde’s online agenda before walking in.

• Chronic-illness patients: Request three-month prescriptions where possible; pharmacists can perform partial fills if full boxes are temporarily absent.

• Travellers: If you normally fill scripts abroad to save money, note that re-importing blocked medicines is legal only for personal use and below 90-day supply.

• Digital tools: The Farmácias de Serviço app now sends stock alerts for many of the listed products—enable notifications.

Pharmacies’ Next Steps

The Portugal Pharmacists’ Association advises outlets to log every unfilled prescription in Infarmed’s Shortage Portal. That database drives the agency’s daily heat-map of deficits, which in turn shapes future import quotas. Wholesalers, for their part, must prove that any outgoing batch is not on the embargo list or face inspections and potential licence suspension.

Bigger Picture for Portugal’s Drug Supply

Medicine shortages are no longer a southern-Europe anomaly; Germany and the Netherlands have both reported record gaps this winter. Lisbon officials argue that export suspensions, while blunt, are less disruptive than the price-hike incentives deployed elsewhere. Still, patient groups warn that repeated freezes could scare manufacturers into diverting production to larger markets. To counter that risk, the Portugal Budget for 2026 earmarks €12 M for a “strategic buffer fund” aimed at pre-paying critical stock.

For now, residents can expect paediatric vaccine appointments to continue undisrupted, but anyone relying on the affected chronic-disease drugs should plan ahead and stay in close contact with their pharmacist.