Dili, June 18, 2021 – His Excellency the Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak, accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Isabel da Costa Ferreira, received this Friday, the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine (completed vaccination), after having received the first dose on April 7^th. The second dose was administered at his official residence, in the Farol neighborhood, in Dili.

After receiving the second dose of the vaccine, the Chief of the Executive reminded that receiving the second dose of the vaccine means being free to move around, without the need for a SWAB test. The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to appeal again for the maximum participation of citizens in the vaccination campaign, because this is a precondition for the new normality when all citizens will have completed the second dose of the vaccine. That way it will be possible to normalize all socio-economic activities, to recover the economy, which is in recession because of this pandemic.

“I am free now. Now I can go anywhere, without having to do a SWAB test, this is the first issue. The second issue is to appeal to all families and the general population to participate in the national vaccination campaign, because this will allow us, firstly, to save our lives, and secondly, it will allow us to return to normality so that we can recover our economy.”

The Head of Government also took the opportunity to “salute the health professionals, the PNTL and F-FDTL institutions, the volunteers, the non-governmental organizations and all those involved in the national vaccination campaign.

The Head of Government also expressed his satisfaction with the increase in the numbers of citizens participating in the vaccination, in the last few weeks, adding that the Government continues to make efforts to support the health professionals, so that the immunization campaign may be successful, according to the defined goals, thus allowing the Government to return the country to a new normality.

“I am happy with the results of the last few weeks. The numbers of citizens participating have increased a lot, which means that we are taking this seriously. The government continues to strive to support all health professionals and they remain very determined to move this process forward, to save our lives, normalize life in our country, and in that way help our economy recover. If not, our economy will continue to stand still. Therefore I am very pleased with the participation of the citizens”, stressed the Prime Minister.

Regarding young people and children under 18 years old, the  Chief of the Executive explained that the Government continues to strive so that soon they can also have access to the vaccine. END

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