Sturgeon urged to speed up 'sluggish' vaccine roll-out as Scotland lags behind England

Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to rapidly speed up Scotland’s vaccine roll-out after it emerged the country is already falling behind England in delivering life-saving doses.

Figures published  on Monday suggest a widening gap between the four UK nations, as Scottish doctors complained that they were unable to secure vaccine deliveries despite 400,000 unused doses apparently sitting in storage.

In England, enough doses had been administered to inoculate 4.1 per cent of the population, it was confirmed.

However, in Scotland, just three per cent of the population has received injections.

Meanwhile, sites for mass vaccination hubs, seven of which opened to patients in England on Monday and are open 8am to 8pm, are yet to be identified and secured by Scottish health boards.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed that everyone over 70 and those classed as “extremely clinical vulnerable” would have been offered a vaccination by “around the middle of February”.

But she faced questions over why the vaccines could not be rolled out faster, after UK Government sources confirmed that 560,000 doses had already been sent to Scotland, with a further 340,000 expected by the end of the month.

According to figures published yesterday, 163,377 people in Scotland had received a vaccine by Sunday.

Despite an apparent surplus of almost 400,000 doses, doctors said they were unable to vaccinate patients after being told of a lack of supplies.

Around 1,100 vaccination sites opened on Monday across Scotland, most of which are GP surgeries. However, family doctors said they were still in the dark about when doses would arrive.

Cat Nisbet, a GP based in East Kilbride, said her practice wanted to urgently vaccinate the 500 over 80s on its books, but had been told to expect only around 100 doses this week.

She said: “What we’ve been told is we should expect delivery this week of some vaccine, but it’ll probably only be about a fifth of what we need.

"That’s then very difficult to set up what we would like to do, which is essentially a mass vaccination clinic.

“It is a bit frustrating especially when you look at the GP practices in England that are already weeks down the line and a lot of their over 80s are now having second vaccinations.

“Most of us are set up and ready to go, we’re really champing at the bit to get this rolled out... we've been told there's a supply issue, that there's just not enough vaccine available at the moment.”

To hit the target of vaccinating around 560,000 frontline health workers, care home staff and residents and over 80s by the end of the month, the speed of the roll out last week will have to more than double.

“The rollout of the vaccine appears to be sluggish and clearly the pace needs to be increased,” Donald Cameron, health spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said.

“It may be early days but vaccines will need to reach people more than twice as fast to reach targets.

“We all want to see the delivery of this vaccine succeed so we can defeat the virus as quickly as possible.

“The SNP need to show us their plan to accelerate the process. On current trends, they’re going to fall far short.”

According to figures published on Monday, 1,959,151 people have received a Covid vaccine in England, roughly 3.5 per cent of the population. A further 374,613 have received second doses, meaning enough vaccines have been administered to cover 4.1 per cent of the population.

In Northern Ireland, enough doses have been given to cover 4.4 per cent of the population, while in Wales, the figure is 2.7 per cent.

In Scotland, three per cent of the population has been vaccinated, not including second doses. However, according to the most recent available figures, just 36 people north of the border had received a second injection, and health officials are now prioritising giving only first doses.

On Monday, a further 1,782 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Scotland, while 1,664 people are in hospital confirmed to have the virus, a figure that exceeded the previous peak set in April.

Ms Sturgeon’s cabinet is to discuss a potential tightening of lockdown measures on Tuesday, with new curbs on building, manufacturing, retail and takeaway food services under consideration.

The First Minister said: “As our supplies of the vaccine increase, the number of venues will increase further, as pharmacies and mass vaccination centres also start to come on stream and be used.

"For the moment, though, the fact that GP practices and community centres are now being widely used for vaccination is an important milestone in the vaccination programme.

“We are working hard to get through this vaccination programme just as quickly as possible. Because of course it is the main route out right now of the situation we all find ourselves in.”