Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 13 January 2021
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of the statement. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I put on record our thanks to everyone involved in the programme to get Scotland vaccinated.
How quickly can we move to a 24/7 roll-out, and how many additional vaccinator and support staff would be needed in order to implement that across Scotland? People are waiting patiently for the post to arrive, so when will people over 70 will start to be invited? How will disabled and older adults who live in their own home and who need the vaccine to be brought to them be identified? Will everyone who needs at-home vaccination be guaranteed that?
Finally, I make a point on behalf of Scotland’s home carers, who feel that they have been at the end of the queue for personal protective equipment, testing and now the vaccine. I have dozens of examples from Lanarkshire of home carers getting up as early as 4 am to go online to try to book appointments, only to find that the slots have gone very quickly. NHS staff have also been waiting patiently and going on to the website repeatedly throughout the day. What more can the cabinet secretary say to those workers, who are getting a bit frustrated about the booking system? What confidence can she give them that they will get their appointments very soon?