News from afpop - Friday 29th of September 2023

Good afternoon to you all and welcome to this week’s Member Briefing. It was a real pleasure to meet Members at the recent Living in the Algarve seminars and also to welcome our new Members who joined at the event. As I said at the time and in fact always say to people, this is a Members’ Association and the team and I really do keep that in mind when we do our work. You are not clients or customers, you are Members and one of the great pleasures for me as the CEO, is seeing how you all interact so warmly with my team, and of course the personal opportunity for me to speak to Members. We always come away from these events feeling really uplifted, so thank you for coming and saying hello.
 
As you will have seen in UPDATE our annual Better Living in Portugal exhibition (BLiP Expo) is fast approaching and there is a reminder below of the dates and times. BLiP is another opportunity for us to speak to Members, so please visit the event and if you do, take a moment just to say hello to the team on the afpop stand.
 
Just a note that we will not send a “News from afpop” mailing on Friday 13th of October because of BLiP, we will postpone it until Friday the 20th of October.
 
So we begin with a couple of internal notices and then on to the rest of this week’s Briefing.
 
BLiP Expo in October
One of the reasons that we continue to organise the Better Living in Portugal Expo each year, besides the contact that it gives us with the business community, is the opportunity to interact with Members and show the personality of the Association. It is our biggest event of the year and a great deal of effort goes into the production. Opening hours are:
Saturday 14^th of October: 10h00 – 18h00, Sunday 15^th of October: 10h00 – 16h00
You will see more information and the exhibitors listing in the October edition of UPDATE magazine and on the website www.blip-expo.com.
 
Please mark the dates in your diary, 14^th and 15^th of October, and take a little time out of your weekend to visit BLiP, speak to the staff on the afpop stand, bring potential Members to join and of course see what is on offer in the Arena.
 
afpop office closed due to BLiP
As usual, the afpop office will be closed all day on Friday 13^th of October and Monday 16^th of October  due to BLiP commitments.
 
Doctors strike
We would like to remind you that Federação Nacional dos Médicos intends to hold a national strike for 14th and 15th of November. If you have anything scheduled for these days, please confirm with your specialist.
 
Network coverage
There is a new tool to find information about network coverage across the country.

When the map is open you can write the area where you live in the search bar, once you see the map of the area click on the icon for coverage (the house on the bottom of the page) and then click on the blue circle on the map and you will see which companies are covering that area.
 
COVID booster vaccines at pharmacies
Pharmacists that have completed specific training to administer the COVID booster vaccine together with the influenza vaccine, have been published on the Infarmed website.
The list of pharmacies participating in the autumn-winter 2023-2024 Seasonal Vaccination Campaign against influenza and COVID are listed here:
https://www.infarmed.pt/web/infarmed/campanha-de-vacinacao-sazonal-do-outono-inverno-2023-2024-gripe-e-covid-19-
 
The campaign starts today, but only on Portugal mainland. To date, it is not planned to administer flu and COVID vaccines from regional health services in pharmacies in Madeira or the Açores.
 
People aged 60 or over who meet the eligibility criteria defined by the DGS can be vaccinated in a pharmacy against flu and COVID, without a medical prescription. People under 60 with risk diseases, pregnant women and professionals can only be vaccinated in the National Health Service establishments.
 
There will be an active call for people with risk comorbidities under the age of 60 by the National Health Service. People who are not identified or who are not followed by the National Health Service must be vaccinated through a declaration of eligibility issued by their doctor. There will also be vaccinations in care homes, in the integrated long-term care network and in prisons.
 
Pharmacies will vaccinate people aged 60 or over who have previously taken a Comirnaty (Pfizer–BioNTech) or Spikevax mRNA technology vaccine (Moderna), and have no history of hypersensitivity reaction or serious adverse reactions following previous vaccination.
As a complement to validating the eligibility criteria, pharmacists will have access to people's vaccination records, being able to consult their flu and COVID vaccination history.
 
Vaccination scheduling will be carried out directly at a pharmacy or through a platform (not all eligible pharmacies are connected to this platform):
https://agendamento.farmaciasportuguesas.pt/en. The platform is only for pharmacy appointments, will not allow more than one appointment per person and will support the management of both the flu vaccine and the COVID vaccine together or separate.
 
Tolls
The Government approved a law to reduce the value of toll fees charged to users on sections and sub-sections of motorways with exclusively electronic toll systems in the interior territories of the country and Algarve from January 2024.
The 30% reduction in toll rates on motorways will cover the following routes: A22 - Algarve; A23 - IP and Beira Interior; A24 - Interior North; A25 - Beiras Litoral and Alta; A4 - Transmontana and Marão Tunnel; A13 and A13-1 Pinhal Interior.
 
Ryanair cancellations
Ryanair announced that it will be forced to cancel flights, due to delays in the delivery of Boeing model planes, between September and December.
The cancellations will come into effect at the end of October and will be communicated to all affected passengers via e-mail in the coming days. Affected passengers will be offered alternative flights or a full refund if they wish.
 
Satellite Offices
afpop staff will be on hand in the Satellite Offices again in October 2023. If you need advice or assistance, wish to introduce a new Member to the Association, need to renew your subscription or just have a general query, please pass by and see us. Please contact the afpop office to make an appointment on 282 458 509 or info@afpop.com    
 
The next dates of the Satellites are (please note the change in Lagos, from now on it will be on the last Wednesday of the month):