Can Portugal ban unvaccinated kids?

The new school year has revived an old question about vaccines. It's Friday, 11 September. Thirty degrees. Air quality: 35 (Good). Here's what you need to know.

🗞️ DO CHILDREN NEED VACCINATIONS TO ENROL IN SCHOOL IN PORTUGAL?

A rule that has sat dormant on the books for more than sixty years is suddenly back in the news, and it has left some parents wondering whether their children need vaccinations to start school. The short answer: there is a law that says so, but no child is actually being turned away.

The requirement comes from a decree-law introduced in 1962, when diphtheria and tetanus were serious public-health threats in Portugal. It states that children up to the age of 10 must have their diphtheria and tetanus vaccinations up to date in order to enrol in school. Officially, that law has never been repealed, and the government's own public-service portal still lists up-to-date diphtheria and tetanus vaccination as a requirement to enrol, and to sit exams.

In practice, though, it has effectively not been enforced for years. The national association of state-school directors has no record of any child being refused a place on these grounds, and several local health authorities say they have received no such reports from schools in the past five years. A previous government tried to remove the compulsory requirement altogether in 2017, but the change never made it through parliament, so the 1962 rule technically survives, unused.

Crucially, the health authorities have now made the practical position clear. The Directorate-General of Health has clarified that no child can be barred from enrolling in or attending school for missing these vaccines, because the constitutional right to education overrides the old decree. Schools will check the vaccination booklet (boletim de vacinas), and if something is missing they flag it and refer the family to their local health team for guidance, but they do not reject the enrolment.

What has changed is the context. Bernardo Gomes, president of the National Association of Public Health Doctors, has pointed to nine confirmed measles cases in Portugal since the start of 2026, amid falling vaccination rates in parts of Europe, and argued the government should clarify whether the 1962 law still applies. Others, including paediatricians, say an unenforced 1962 decree is the wrong tool and that Portugal should either modernise the rule or drop it.

For parents here, the practical position today is this: Portugal's National Vaccination Programme is free, universal and, in general, not compulsory. The overwhelming majority of children are vaccinated through the standard schedule anyway, and the booklet is part of the normal paperwork when you register a child. If your child is up to date, this changes nothing for you. If they are not, or you are moving from a country with a different schedule, it is worth talking to your health centre before enrolment rather than waiting to find out.

Bottom line: no new mandate has been introduced, and no child is being kept out of school over vaccines. An old, largely dormant law has resurfaced in the debate, and the real question is whether Portugal updates it or lets it keep gathering dust.

⚡ QUICK HITS

A fire at Café Nicola, one of Lisbon's most historic cafés, left three people injured. The blaze broke out on Thursday afternoon at the landmark café on Rossio square, a fixture of the city since the 18th century and long associated with Lisbon's writers and poets. Around 30 firefighters brought it under control within an hour. Three young employees were hurt, mainly from smoke inhalation, and taken to São José Hospital. Early indications point to an accidental kitchen fire that started in the basement. The sight of Café Nicola cordoned off will be a jolt for anyone who knows the square.

Portugal's journey from bailout basket case to fiscal star is complete. With this month's Fitch upgrade to A+, Reuters marked what it called Portugal's passage "from PIIGS to pin-up," a nod to the disparaging "PIIGS" label (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain) pinned on Europe's most indebted economies during the debt crisis. Portugal now has a budget surplus, falling public debt on track for around 87% of GDP this year, and top-tier ratings from the major agencies, a turnaround few would have predicted during the 2011 bailout. The one persistent warning in every upgrade, as ever, is housing, still the country's central economic vulnerability.

Complaints against AIMA have fallen by half. The immigration agency's president, Pedro Portugal Gaspar, said grievances against AIMA, the source of so much frustration through the summer, have dropped by around 50% compared with 2024. It follows a huge effort to clear the backlog, several hundred thousand pending cases dealt with over the past year, alongside reforms including decentralised appointments and specialised immigration courts. It is far from fixed, and plenty of readers will have their own recent horror stories, but for once the trend line on AIMA is pointing the right way.

VocaSpark — For Anyone Still Trying to Order in Portuguese

Anyone learning Portuguese in Lisbon knows the moment. You walk into a café, rehearse the line in your head, and deliver it: "Bom dia, queria um café e um pastel de nata, por favor." And it comes straight back at you: "Of course! Anything else?" In English. They mean well, which is somehow what makes it worse.

VocaSpark, the Portuguese language-learning brand, has turned that very familiar defeat into something you can wear on your head: Don’t switch to English, por favor, embroidered across an adjustable cap.

The idea comes from founder Gabriel Antunes, a Portuguese tutor who has taught international learners since 2017.

"My students have been telling me about this for years," he says. "They finally build up the confidence to speak Portuguese, and the moment someone hears their accent, the conversation switches to English. People are trying to be helpful, but learners need those everyday interactions to practise. The hat is our slightly ridiculous solution."

Because learning a language eventually means actually speaking it: making mistakes, hunting for words, and surviving those awkward few seconds while your brain scrambles for what comes next. The cap is built for exactly those moments, whether you are ordering a coffee in Lisbon or attempting a conversation anywhere else in Portugal. At the very least it will get a laugh. And if it actually stops someone switching to English, even better.

The "Don't switch to English, por favor" cap is €34.99 from VocaSpark, and you can get 15% off the entire order with the code thelisbonletter15 at checkout. Just do not expect it to conjugate the verbs for you.

And if you have seen our language-course recommendations and thought "not for me, I'm already fluent", well, this one's finally for you.

→ Get the hat. It might work, worst case you'll get a smile.

We only partner with businesses we think genuinely help our community. If this is useful to you, or if you know someone who has fought the switch-to-English battle one too many times, every click and every share goes a long way to keeping this newsletter free every morning.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

UAIPI (SANTOS)

This one comes by way of a reader, Simon, who pointed us toward a tiny Brazilian café that turns out to be one of the highest-rated places to eat in the whole city. UAIPI sits on Travessa das Isabéis, a quiet side street near the Museu da Marioneta, and it is small, warm, and run by a Franco-Brazilian couple, Grégory and chef Laila, who tend to greet you like you have been before even if you have not.

The whole menu revolves around cassava, or mandioca, the root that anchors so much Brazilian cooking, and the surprise is how much they do with it. Reviewers rave about the pão de queijo (warm cheese bread), the tapiocas, the fried cassava cubes, and the filter coffee and mate tea to go with them. It is largely gluten-free, there are plenty of vegetarian options, the prices are low, and the whole thing feels very relaxed. It holds a nearly perfect reviews across hundreds, which for a place most people walk past without noticing is no small thing.

It is open Thursday to Sunday, roughly 9am to 4pm, walk-ins only, no bookings.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: go for the pão de queijo warm from the oven with a filter coffee, and ask what to try beyond it. If you have never eaten much Brazilian food, this is a gentle, generous introduction, and a reader put us onto it, so consider the favour passed along.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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