Covid vaccine: Healthy competition between UK's four nations over how fast they inoculate the public is no bad thing – Kirsty Strickland

The art of small-talk has been eroded over the last year and so too has the opportunity for it.

Derek Fraser from Edinburgh receives an injection of a coronavirus vaccine from military doctor Captain Robert Reid from 3 Medical Regiment who are assisting with the vaccination programme at the Royal Highland Showground near Edinburgh

It is now considered rude to ask somebody what they have been up to when you know damn well that they, like you, have nothing new or interesting to report.

Gossip has dropped off the face of the Earth and dating is dead. Few among us have the appetite for another round of the cheese-in-a-can equivalent of socialising in the form of Zoom ‘meet-ups’.

Those lockdown hobbies that we pursued with vigour during the first lockdown have been cast aside in favour of staring at blank walls while contemplating the magnitude of our own despair. Even politics – which is usually good for a lively chat, if nothing else – feels too high-stakes to be used as a conversational prompt.

The big question

But all is not lost. It has taken 11 months to materialise but at long last, we finally have a new topic of conversation.

“Have you had the vaccine yet?”

Most of my neighbours are elderly. Spotting one of them in the street and power-walking towards them to ask them if they’ve been for The Jag has been a thrilling highlight of the last few weeks. We have something new to discuss that isn’t rooted in abject misery. I have never been so invested in other people’s doctor’s appointments before.

Lance corporal Amy Portman prepares a Covid-19 vaccine (Picture: Andrew Milligan/pool/AFP via Getty Images)

It fair lifts the spirits to hear that somebody you care about is safer today than they were yesterday.

This NHS-sponsored dopamine boost doesn’t just apply to family and friends, either. Every person vaccinated, in any part of the UK, is a win for us all.

If there was a live feed of newly jagged people exiting vaccination centres the public would lap it up in the way it did when Big Brother was thought of as ground-breaking television. It’s not like we’ve got much else going on, anyway.

James Logan and Sylvia Campbell receive a Covid-19 vaccine from military personnel at a temporary vaccination centre set up at the Royal Highland Showground near Edinburgh (Picture: Andrew Milligan/pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Rollout rows

The vicarious pleasure we are getting from the vaccination programme isn’t mirrored in the corridors of power. This week has been dominated by rows about Scotland’s vaccine rollout and its comparatively sluggish start.

In these first few months, Scotland’s vaccinated percentage of population has lagged behind the other three nations of the UK. This prompted the UK government to write to the Scottish government to offer their assistance. Their helpfulness was, naturally, served cold and with a side dish of politics.

This culminated in a tetchy exchange between Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson during First Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. Ms Davidson asked the First Minister if she would accept offers of help from the army to get Scots vaccinated more quickly.

Nicola Sturgeon’s response was what the political class usually describe as “robust”.

“Any help that the armed forces give to Scotland, whether it’s on vaccines or – as it was during the early stages, PPE, or the logistics of setting up the NHS Louisa Jordan – is not a favour from the Secretary of State for Scotland. It’s our armed forces that the people of Scotland pay for through their taxes. So let’s forget the suggestion that it’s somehow the UK government doing Scotland a favour.”

While the way in which some Tory politicians seemed to revel in Scotland being slow off the blocks was unedifying, we all want to see vaccines administered as quickly as humanly possible.

Vaccination pace quickening

The Scottish government says its strategy of prioritising the most vulnerable led to the initial distribution being slower than in other parts of the UK. After the horror of last year, when the virus rampaged through our care homes with impunity, that judgement may prove to be a sensible one.

And the news that 99 per cent of older care home residents in Scotland have now received their first dose is certainly worthy of celebration.

There are encouraging signs that we have now considerably picked up the pace. Last week, we saw consecutive days when the rolling average for daily vaccinations topped 45,000. The week before the figure was around 23,000.

If we can maintain those kinds of numbers then we will be on course to reach the Scottish government’s target of vaccinating 1.1 million people in the highest priority groups by the middle of February.

What a boost to the country’s morale that would be. Current restrictions are expected to be in place until at least the end of February, but we will take our daily exercise with a renewed bounce in our step if we know that all the over-70s and all those who are clinically extremely vulnerable have received their first dose.

Bad taste?

Boris Johnson has committed his government to a similar timetable on schools re-opening and laying out next steps for the easing of restrictions as the Scottish government has. Some prominent Conservatives, such as Rishi Sunak, are reported to be uneasy about this uncharacteristically cautious approach and have urged the Prime Minister to lift lockdown quicker than his scientists currently advise.

As all countries of the UK get into their stride with the vaccine rollout, we can expect to be updated regularly on the unofficial league table that has been set up between the four nations.

It might be in bad taste to treat a vaccination programme like an equestrian jumping event at the Olympic Games but that is exactly what will happen and we should embrace it.

First and foremost, all political leaders surely want their country’s vaccine programmes to be rolled out as quickly and successfully as possible because doing that will save lives.

But if some friendly cross-country rivalry gives our politicians added impetus, then so be it. Especially when there are no losers. England’s win is ours, as ours is theirs. A bit of healthy competition is no bad thing.

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