Meeting of the Parliament 30 October 2025 [Draft]
As Ms Mochan has set out, we are guided in our vaccination programmes by the advice of the independent expert Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. Its advice is that the groups that are eligible for Covid-19 vaccination this winter—not just in Scotland but elsewhere in the United Kingdom—are residents in care homes for older adults, those aged 75 and over, and those aged six months and over who have a weakened immune system.
I understand that the groups that are no longer eligible, which include the 65-to-74 cohort, those who are at wider clinical risk and front-line health workers, might feel anxious. To them, I say that the overall threat of Covid has, thankfully, diminished over time, due to high levels of vaccine-based immunity and naturally acquired immunity from infection.