Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 20 January 2021
Getting Scotland vaccinated against Covid-19 is indeed the country’s national priority, and it is a fundamental part of Scotland’s strategic framework for dealing with Covid. It is critical to getting society back to some kind of normality. All staff who are involved in this unprecedented vaccination programme—from those who were vaccinating at the Louisa Jordan hospital last Saturday to the GPs serving our over-80s in their local communities—deserve our thanks and support. I join Monica Lennon in paying tribute to all the staff who are working so hard to deliver the programme.
As the cabinet secretary previously outlined to Parliament, to deliver 400,000 doses per week by the end of February, working from national modelling, we estimate that we could need around 3,400 vaccinators on a daily basis, depending on the proportion of staff who work part time. To date, around 7,700 vaccinators have registered with the vaccination management tool, and we continue to work with our health boards to encourage further expansion of the workforce to build in resilience.
That workforce is being drawn from right across the system—it includes people who are involved in flu vaccination, health board staff, GPs, dentists, optometrists and military personnel—and we have commissioned the British Red Cross to co-ordinate offers of unpaid volunteer support across the country.
We will make training for vaccinators as straightforward as possible. I know that the point is one that was raised earlier with the First Minister, and it is important to be clear about it. Many of the people who are administering vaccines are already experienced and active vaccinators, but training is still needed to cover the specific characteristics of the Covid-19 vaccinations. For those who are not experienced, even though they may have years of clinical experience, safety tells us that they need that training plus a bit more.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has already reviewed and streamlined its generic induction training requirements, and we have written to all health boards to ensure that they do the same.
In relation to vaccination priority, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has rightly prioritised front-line health and social care workers, and we have already covered more than 70 per cent of that cohort. Many of those workers will get their second dose around the end of February. We need to be crystal clear about the implications of what would happen if we were to do as the Labour motion proposes and prioritise second doses for all front-line health and social care workers before end of February. That would come at a cost for some of our most vulnerable people. It would divert limited vaccine stock away from protecting people over 70 and those on the shielding list who are clinically extremely vulnerable. Individuals in those cohorts are at high risk from Covid illness and death.
The advice from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the JCVI and the chief medical officers of all four nations supports our approach. We have also had support from trusted professional bodies such as the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland—the Scottish Academy—the British Society of Immunology and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
In the situation that we find ourselves in at the moment, the efficacy that is offered by the first dose of vaccine is very good. Therefore, for the prevention of illness and death among the population and for our public health response to the pandemic, we are following the guidance and the position that has been agreed.
On vaccine supply, GPs have a significant role to play in delivering the vaccine, especially at this stage of the programme, and we are grateful for their hard work. We know that there have been some initial delays in supply reaching some GP practices, and we are working with national procurement and local health boards to resolve any issues. We are also in regular contact with boards to ensure that GPs have the most up-to-date information on vaccine supply.
AstraZeneca is working hard to increase its deliveries, and quantities will start to improve from the end of this month, but it is important to highlight that, as the First Minister mentioned earlier, 75 per cent of GP practices have already received or are in the process of getting vaccine supplies, and we are still on track to have vaccinated all those people in JCVI priority groups 1 and 2 by the first week in February. We want to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, and we are continually working hard to see whether distribution can be speeded up.