The far-away European Union territories could become “immunological laboratories” by accelerating and achieving full vaccination of the population there, Portugal’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias said on Tuesday (18 May). “We could use these regions as immunological laboratories, i.e. accelerate vaccination so that it is 100% and see what results they then have and how the populations behave,” Zacarias told a press conference after chairing the meeting of ministers of European Affairs, being held in Coimbra on Monday under the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU. The EU includes nine outermost regions, Portugal’s Azores and Madeira, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint Martin, and the Spanish Canary Islands.