Health Secretary Jeane Freeman: Road border checks between Scotland and England not ruled out if quarantine rules remain unchanged

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman refused to rule out checks on road borders with England if the UK Government does not tighten its international quarantine proposals.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week that plans by the UK Government for a “managed quarantine” system for travellers from certain countries do not go far enough, as she announced Scotland will do the same for all travellers.

She added she will continue to urge the UK Government to tighten its system, and Ms Freeman said more action may need to be taken in Scotland if it does not do so.

Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday, Ms Freeman said: “Those are difficult issues, partly because we’ve got individuals who work in Scotland and live just over the border and vice-versa, and of course there will always be exemptions for haulage traffic, but we need to continue to talk that through with the UK Government.”

When asked if there could be checks on the border with England if restrictions are not tightened by the UK Government, she added: “I’m not saying yes and I’m not saying no.

“What I’m saying is, those discussions need to continue to see what more we can do, if we can’t persuade the UK Government to take the tough, clinically-led approach that we are taking, then we need to work with them to identify how can we then continue to protect Scotland to the maximum level.”

Deputy First Minister John Swinney later said discussions are ongoing between the two governments about the final restrictions.

Meanwhile, Ms Freeman said she was ‘confident’ the Scottish Government would reach its vaccination target by the end of Friday.

Scottish border

She said: “Yes, I am [confident].“We've already, as of Thursday, had 98% of care home residents and 92% of residents in all other adult care homes [given their first dose].

“Ninety per cent of over 80s [have been given the first dose], and that number will grow. And we've also got 38%, as of yesterday, and again that will grow, of 75 to 79 year olds.

“We're moving swiftly into the next group of priority individuals, so that we can make sure those who are most at risk of serious illness and death are receiving their vaccines as quickly as we can do it.”

Asked if the bigger target ten days from now of vaccinating 1.1 million people in the four highest priority groups, including all over 70s, was achievable, Ms Freeman was again confident the program is on track.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman.

“That is achievable,” she said. “I think what Jason [Leitch, national clinical director] was pointing out was that as we go through towards the end of February, we need to start factoring in second doses, because that's us coming up to that point.

“And of course, we need to make sure that we're back into those care homes, giving people their second dose, and the second dose to frontline staff, and the second dose to the over 80s – so that's what he was pointing out.

“As you get towards the end of February, into March, effectively we want two vaccination workstreams continuing the first doses, bringing in the second doses – all of that, of course, dependent on supply.”

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