Alister Jack offers Nicola Sturgeon UK Government support for vaccine rollout amid complaints over delays

Scotland Secretery Alister Jack has offered UK Government support to Scotland with the vaccine rollout after the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon faced criticism over “lagging behind” other UK countries.

In a public letter addressed to Ms Sturgeon, Mr Jack said: “Our joint mission to vaccinate the people of the United Kingdom is the most important peacetime endeavour this country has ever undertaken.”

He went on to say that it “is essential” that all parts of the UK fight the pandemic “together” to help accelerate the easing of restrictions for the country as a whole.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"As we have agreed previously, there are significant advantages to moving in lockstep on major decisions,” he said.

Nicola Sturgeon and Alister Jack, who has offered the Scottish Government UK Government support in vaccine rollout plan picture: PANicola Sturgeon and Alister Jack, who has offered the Scottish Government UK Government support in vaccine rollout plan picture: PA
Nicola Sturgeon and Alister Jack, who has offered the Scottish Government UK Government support in vaccine rollout plan picture: PA

"I strongly believe that to put the nightmare of COVID-19 behind us as quickly as possible, we must collaborate as closely as possible."

It comes after the First Minister was accused of overseeing a "slow and stuttering" Covid-19 vaccination programme that was "lagging way behind the rest of the UK".

A total of 610,778 people in Scotland have received the first dose of a vaccine, out of an adult population of 4.4 million, which is 13.8 per cent.

By contrast, 18.9 per cent of adults in England have been given a jab, compared with 17.4 per cent in Wales and 16.1 per cent in Northern Ireland.

During a session in Parliament Ms Sturgeon stressed that the country is “on track” with its vaccination programme.

Yet Conservative MP Ruth Davidson said on Sunday: "Scotland saw the lowest number of jabs administered since the start of the mass rollout over a month ago

“At the moment, all the evidence shows the Scottish government's rollout is slow, stuttering and lagging way behind the rest of the UK."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At Holyrood, Jeanne Freeman, the Scottish Health Secretary, admitted the vaccination programme needed to speed up across the country.

Asked why the rollout in Scotland was falling behind the other UK nations she said: “I do believe that we need to vaccinate faster in Scotland than we have been doing and the plans that are in place from this week onwards significantly increase those numbers.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.