Naval officer wins praise for Portugal’s vaccine rollout

By BARRY HATTON
Associated Press

OEIRAS, Portugal (AP) — As Portugal nears its goal of fully vaccinating 85% of the population against COVID-19 in nine months, other countries want to know how it was able to accomplish the feat. A lot of the credit is going to Rear Adm. Henrique Gouveia e Melo. With his team from the three branches of the armed forces, the naval officer took charge of the vaccine rollout in February. It was perhaps the moment of greatest tension in Portugal over the pandemic, with promised vaccine supplies not arriving and queue-jumping for shots. But Gouveia e Melo set a no-nonsense, disciplined tone to cut through the politics in the vaccine rollout, and his straight-talking style endeared him to many Portuguese.