Let’s ensure help at hand
Few of us will have regretted seeing the back of 2021, but the new year has brought another national lockdown, with schools disrupted again, the return of ‘ stay at home’ as a national instruction and further rigid restrictions on local businesses.
With Covid- 19 infection rates having spiralled since the festive period and with our local hospitals and NHS staff put under more pressure than they ever have before, new restrictions were both inevitable and necessary.
On the question of legally- enforced businesses closures, this underlines the need for a step- change in the level of support being made available.
I’m backing calls for the Scottish Government to do far more to offer support to councils who are managing the grants payments system, for an increase in the grants being made available in line with other parts of the UK, and for a guarantee to be given that businesses will wait no more than 10 days between making a grant application and a decision being taken on it.
Without further action, more and more small businesses are going to struggle to survive over the weeks and months ahead.
So that’s the bad news. The good news is that the UK has now licensed three different Covid- 19 vaccinations for use and two of these are now being rolled out in Ayrshire and Arran, helping ensure that those people in ‘ priority groups’ receive their vaccines as quickly as possible.
Amongst those who are quite rightly amongst the first in line to be vaccinated are residents in a care home for older adults, their carers and frontline health and social care workers.
Now, as from this week here in Ayrshire and Arran, the process will begin of rolling out the first doses of Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine to patients who are aged 80 or over living in the community.
GP practices will be getting in touch with eligible people directly, inviting them to come for their first dose over the course of the coming weeks.
There’s a long way to go yet, but this is a very welcome start to the local vaccination programme.
Although I am not able to hold face to face meetings at present, I can be contacted on 01292 286251 or at: john. scott. msp@ parliament. scot