Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 13 January 2021
The First Minister did not commit to plans to vaccinate teachers and childcare staff. What she said—I am paraphrasing here, so forgive me if I do not quote exactly what she said—was that she understood the concerns and that it was a matter that would continue to be considered.
The fact of the matter is that the JCVI advice is crystal clear in saying that the virus is most serious for those who are older—age is the highest risk factor. If we vaccinate JCVI priority groups as it has listed them, we will prevent well over 90 per cent of the associated mortality and morbidity in Scotland. If we take any quantum from that group for another group, we will be delaying the vaccination of a group of older adults whom we have been told to vaccinate because they are most at risk, because we will have put the vaccination doses somewhere else.
There will undoubtedly be a number of people in the teaching profession, working in schools and in nurseries, who will be covered by those JCVI priority groups. Therefore, they will be vaccinated in the timeframe that we have set out.
As the JCVI looks beyond its first set of priorities—that is, to those aged over 50 and upwards—to what we do thereafter, from the spring onwards, it is considering but has not yet determined whether there are any occupations or other characteristics, for example black, Asian and minority ethnic groups or other groups, that we should prioritise within the cohort of those aged 50 to 80. Once it has given us that advice, we will look at that.
We will continue to consider what more we can do to provide assurance to a number of individuals in particular professional and work circumstances, where they have concerns about their vulnerability in that regard.