Portugal's Secretary of State of Health Eurico Castro Alves announced on Thursday a new initiative by the Portuguese National Vaccination Program (PNV) aimed at vaccinating as many people as possible with the flu vaccination.

Speaking at an old people's residence in Porto City in northern Portugal, Alves said the plan is a preventative measure to minimize the potential amount of people who may get the seasonal flu this season.

The Portuguese National Vaccination Program will mostly target groups aged 65 and older who are considered by the National Health Service to be at a higher risk of suffering complications from the flu virus.

The preventative measures ensure that those in the target group are protected against the seasonal flu, which last year overwhelmed hospitals with unexpectedly high numbers among the elderly.

The campaign hopes that these measures will ease the pressure on National Health Service this winter by avoiding and minimizing the potential of an influenza outbreak.

Non-governmental associations in the health care industry also took part in the launch of the national vaccination campaign.

"We're working together so that in the peak period of the flu outbreak there is a backstop for those cases, exclusively social and which very often are occupying hospital beds unnecessarily," said Alves.

According to the Secretary of State, health care professions are prepared to visit homes and social security institutions to safeguard as many people as possible.

The campaign will run for two weeks across local health centers in Portugal.

A total of 1.2 million vaccinations are already available with around 1 million people in Portugal already vaccinated, according to the Secretary of State.

The Portuguese National Vaccination Program was founded in 1865 and is universal, free and accessible to everybody in the country.