Portugal’s 60-Year Vaccine Drive Keeps Kids Out of Hospitals

Ask any Portuguese parent what keeps them up at night and "hospital wards" rarely tops the list anymore—precisely because vaccines have done the heavy lifting. Portugal’s National Vaccination Programme, quietly celebrating 60 years of service, is posting new gains: near-total childhood coverage, a dramatic fall in respiratory virus admissions and renewed debate over how to keep the machinery running smoothly.

From polio to RSV: six decades of near-universal shields

In 1965 Portugal rolled out its first National Vaccination Programme (PNV) and, within 12 months, polio cases all but vanished. That historic pivot set the tone for a country that would go on to record some of the highest immunisation rates in Europe. Fast-forward to the present and the latest update—an autumn 2024 introduction of the RSV monoclonal antibody nirsevimab—has extended that legacy. By spring 2025, 86% of babies born after August 2024 had received the shot, a level public-health officials once deemed unrealistic for a single season. The programme’s endurance owes much to a centralised procurement system, a network of public health nurses who have become household names in many parishes, and a culture that treats vaccination as a civic duty rather than a personal choice.

How many arms and why it matters: coverage figures in 2025

Latest data from the Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS) show that between 98% and 99% of Portuguese infants are fully vaccinated by their first birthday. That momentum carries into preschool years: coverage for the measles-mumps-rubella combo sits at 99% by age two and still tops 96% at age six. The newer meningitis B series has hit 97% completion within two years of life—a figure that would be the envy of many OECD peers. Even the HPV campaign, expanded in 2023 to include boys, now flirts with 90% in the critical 15-year-old cohort. Health-economics models from Lisbon’s Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge suggest that every percentage point gained above 95% saves roughly €1.2 M in avoidable treatment costs over a decade, mainly through herd immunity. In short, these high numbers are not vanity metrics; they are protective walls that shelter immunocompromised neighbours and unvaccinated infants alike.

Silent victories: fewer hospital beds, happier paediatric wards

Nothing illustrates success more starkly than an empty hospital bed. Since the RSV campaign kicked off in October 2024, paediatric wards in Porto, Braga and Faro report an 85% drop in RSV-linked intensive-care admissions for babies under 3 months, with a 40% decline in the 3-to-6-month bracket. Respiratory specialists at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Norte say the pressure relief has allowed staff to redirect resources to chronic cases and elective surgeries that were postponed during previous winter waves. Similar stories trail the older vaccines too: Portugal has not logged an indigenous measles outbreak in over a decade, and tetanus in children is practically non-existent. These invisible victories rarely make headlines, yet they underpin Portugal’s position among the top three EU countries for lowest under-five mortality.

Pressure points: what paediatricians still want fixed

High coverage does not spell perfection. The Sociedade Portuguesa de Pediatria (SPP) keeps pushing for a 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to replace the current 13-valent version, arguing it could fend off emerging serotypes already circulating in Spain. Meanwhile, the Unidades de Saúde Familiar network warns that opening additional pharmacy-based jab sites, while popular politically, will not solve the real bottleneck: IT platforms that crash during peak scheduling and nurse vacancies in rural centres. Parents in interior districts still drive 40 km for routine doses, a gap the Health Ministry vows to close through a pilot of mobile vaccination units set to roll out next spring. For now, the programme’s logistical backbone remains robust, but cracks are visible—and paediatricians fear complacency could widen them.

Looking ahead: what changes parents should watch for

Next on the horizon is a planned extension of HPV shots up to age 26, designed to scoop up young adults missed in adolescence. Officials are also weighing whether to make annual COVID-19 boosters a permanent line item in the PNV, mirroring the flu model. Public consultations begin this winter, and early drafts suggest a digital reminder system tied to the SNS app could debut in 2026, nudging users whenever their household is due for a vaccine. Health economists say that even a 5-percentage-point rise in adult coverage would cushion hospitals against future waves and free up beds for non-infectious care.

If past performance is any guide, Portugal’s vaccine playbook will adapt—and quickly. The challenge now is less about convincing parents to roll up sleeves and more about keeping the supply chain, data systems and clinical workforce humming in sync. For a country that has already turned vaccines into a quiet social contract, the next chapter is about fine-tuning, not reinventing, an engine that has saved thousands of young lives every single year.