Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 19 November 2020
19 Nov 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Covid Vaccine
As I have just set out, front-line care staff— and by front-line, I mean patient-facing NHS and social care staff, including social care staff who work in care homes and home care staff—will be in that very first wave. Over December and January, they will be offered the opportunity to be vaccinated. As the member knows, I will set out in the Parliament next week the plans for the roll-out of routine asymptomatic testing.
On designated visitors, the JCVI information and advice is that we should work through age cohorts. The only sectoral exemption to that is NHS and social care staff. We have extended that definition ourselves to take account of unpaid carers and personal assistants. However, the JCVI has said that the clinical evidence is crystal clear that we must work through the age cohorts because they are the most vulnerable to serious harm from the virus, including death. That is the basis on which we will deliver the vaccine.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Linda Fabiani)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by Jeane Freeman on a Covid vaccine. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeane Freeman)
SNP
I am grateful for the opportunity to set out our current plans to deliver a programme of Covid-19 vaccination to everyone in Scotland who is over 18. As I wi...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The cabinet secretary will take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I will allow around 20 minutes for that. Members who wish to ask a question ...
Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. The recent news that various vaccines are proving effective during clinical trials is very...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I am grateful to Mr Cameron for his questions. I am sure that, having listened to the statement, he understands that there are some parts of his questions th...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
From the cabinet secretary’s statement, it is clear that the workforce will be crucial to the success and speed of the vaccination programme. With that in mi...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
There are a lot of questions there, as Ms Lennon rightly said. I will write to Ms Lennon on some of those, as I will to other members, because there is a lot...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We move to open questions. I allowed a bit of extra time for the opening questions because of the subject matter, but I ask everyone else to be succinct with...
Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
SNP
Parts of the Maryhill and Springburn constituency have had lower uptake of the flu vaccine historically, although I know that it has been stronger this year....
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Yes, I will. I will just make one quick point. Those mobile units and local high street centres that we have talked about are to be used precisely so that we...
Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
In a call last week, the cabinet secretary and I discussed the practicalities of delivering a population-wide vaccine. I know that she recognises the need to...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I assume that Mr Whittle is talking about the strategic framework level of restrictions. In the first wave, we would ideally like to deliver the vaccine to t...
Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
SNP
The cabinet secretary touched on the issue of public locations. Local authorities own and run many community centres and sports centres. In some areas, parti...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Those are precisely the kind of discussions that we are having to enable us to access those locations in partnership with local authorities.
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Last night, I was contacted by home care staff, a community nurse and two ward staff members, all of whom are in contact with Covid patients and all of whom ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
As I have just set out, front-line care staff— and by front-line, I mean patient-facing NHS and social care staff, including social care staff who work in ca...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
The statement is very welcome and shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but there is still a huge amount of work to be done to get there. I wa...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
We have learned at least two lessons, and we are now implementing them. The first is the importance of a national plan. It is delivered locally, but that is ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
The cabinet secretary’s statement is very welcome and offers much-needed hope. However, although the statement was 1,700 words long, only four of those words...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Mr Cole-Hamilton should never judge the amount of work that we are doing on the basis of the number of words that I use. As I said, the national booking ser...
Annabelle Ewing (Cowdenbeath) (SNP)
SNP
I too very much welcome the news about the vaccine, as will all my constituents in Cowdenbeath. Can the cabinet secretary advise what the current thinking is...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
With regard to information, we will—as I said in my statement—write to those in the first cohort over the coming weeks to ensure that they know what the arra...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I am going to let these questions run on for a little while.
Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
The cabinet secretary will be aware of particular issues facing remote and rural areas of the Highlands and Islands and of the additional challenges that man...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Mr Halcro Johnston is very right. My own constituency is largely rural and, for many people, particularly in the most southern and eastern parts of that cons...
Dr Alasdair Allan (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
SNP
As the cabinet secretary has recognised, the very welcome roll-out of a Covid vaccine will present logistical challenges, especially given that one of the mo...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
We are giving that a lot of consideration. The matter is particularly relevant to island and other communities in and around Scotland. There are many such co...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
The cabinet secretary will be aware that many of my constituents cannot access Covid-19 testing because of where they live. Will she reassure them that they ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I apologise to Ms Grant if she has picked me up wrongly. I will be using GPs, although it is entirely for GPs to volunteer, as it will be for pharmacists, de...
Shona Robison (Dundee City East) (SNP)
SNP
Will the cabinet secretary provide an update on the phase 3 Covid-19 clinical trial that is currently under way across NHS Tayside? How will that inform nati...