Pharmacies will be paid €3.15 a jab this winter, and nobody has published who qualifies yet
An order signed on 25 August sets what community pharmacies receive for each flu or Covid-19 vaccine, capped at €7.6 million. The DGS rule naming the eligible groups and the start date has still not appeared. Last year it came out on 9 September.
The state has done its half of the arithmetic. Every flu or Covid-19 vaccine given in a community pharmacy this autumn and winter is worth €3.15 to the pharmacy that gives it, under the order published in Diário da República on 25 August. The money comes out of the ACSS budget, moves through the local health units and only then reaches the counter, with an overall ceiling of €7.6 million.
What is missing is the half that matters if you are the one rolling up a sleeve: the list of who gets the jab for nothing, and the date the campaign opens.
The health directorate’s rule is not out
The operating model for the campaign was approved back in July, and that document said plainly that eligibility would be defined later, by the Direção-Geral da Saúde, in a norm or technical guidance. As of 26 August it has not been. The DGS index of norms still shows last season’s two seasonal-vaccination documents as the most recent ones, both dated 9 September 2025.
That is not necessarily a delay. Last year the norms landed on 9 September and vaccination began on the 23rd. Repeat the calendar and you are two or three weeks away from knowing which group you fall into.
Who qualified last season
In 2025-2026 free vaccination covered people aged 60 and over, chronically ill patients of any age, health workers, care-home staff, pregnant women and babies between six and 23 months. From 85 onwards the flu vaccine was given as a high-dose shot. Treat that as the sensible starting assumption for this year and nothing more. The edges move from one campaign to the next, which is exactly why it is worth waiting for the document rather than guessing.
What changes at the counter
Any pharmacy with an injectables service and staff trained to run it can sign up. The list of participating pharmacies goes on the SNS, DGS and Infarmed websites, and pharmacies that join may extend their opening hours for the duration. The IT link that confirms whether you are entitled, and that lets the pharmacist see your vaccination history, is run by SPMS. In practice the counter now knows what your health centre knows.
If you have arrived in Portugal recently, the step before all of this has not changed. Without a número de utente none of the criteria reach you, so getting registered with the SNS remains the first thing to sort out. It is the same co-payment machinery that was already reworked this year in the way generic medicines are dispensed.
Image: Fernando Gertrudes / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
