Scotland falling behind England in vaccine roll-out, MSPs told

Scotland is 140,000 vaccinations behind "where it should be" compared with England, opposition leaders have claimed.

But Deputy First Minister John Swinney dismissed claims that half a million doses are in the hands of the health authorities which are not being used. GPs leaders also said that the situation has been “improving” in recent days.

The latest official figures released on Tuesday show 437,900 Scots have had the jab, but this compares with about 6.6 million UK-wide.

Scotland's vaccine roll-out has faced criticism

Ministers had initially said they were prioritising care home inoculations, which were more resource intensive, but this process is now largely complete.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie raised concerns about the lower rate of vaccination in Scotland as Mr Swinney updated MSPs on Covid restrictions.

"The explanations simply don't add up any more," Mr Rennie said.

"Scotland is around 140,000 vaccines behind where it should be compared with the equivalent in England. The programme in England is getting faster, in Scotland it's getting slower.

"We may take more time to vaccinate care homes residents, but that should not hold back the rest of the roll-out of the vaccine."

The Deputy First Minister said if a GP was going to give a commitment to vaccinate an individual in several days’ time, they “have to be confident about the supplies they have got”.

He said: "We are, of course, distributing supplies to general practitioners and those supplies are being distributed on a constant basis. They will continue to be drawn down according to the requirements and the needs of GPs."

Tory Education spokesman Jamie Greene described the Covid vaccine roll-out in Scotland as "slow and sluggish”.

"People simply do not understand why this government has half a million doses of the vaccine sitting there unused," he said.

"We know that the vaccines are just not getting out to GPs quickly enough.

But Mr Swinney rejected claims the authorities in Scotland were sitting on unused supplies of the vaccine.

"There are not 500,000 doses of the vaccine in our hands in Scotland able to be used at this present moment," he said.

The Deputy First Minister said Scotland was on course to complete the vaccination of all over-80s by the end of the first week in February. Over-70s are now receiving letters to go and get their jab.

"Good progress is being made on the delivery of the vaccine for over-80s and we have already over 95 per cent for care home residents,” he said. “We know care homes’ residents are the ones most at risk of morbidity from Covid."

Dr Andrew Buist, Chair of BMA GPs, said the situation has been “improving” in recent days.

"It’s difficult to get a consistent picture across the country – and it isn’t uniform, but I have heard from colleagues they are getting close to or have even completed vaccination of over 80s,” he said.

"The vaccine is coming through with a bit more consistency and I believe we are making progress – we now need to see those improvements continue,He said.

“Receiving boxes with doses of the vaccine is a really hopeful and positive moment, and I know a number of my GP colleagues are feeling more confident about things this week.”

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