STURGEON: BEST NEWS SINCE START OF PANDEMIC
Sturgeon is all smiles as she reveals dose delivery dates
A TOTAL of 32,800 people in Scotland will be given their first dose of Covid vaccine after supplies arrive next week.
It was announced yesterday that regulators had approved the Pfizer/BioNTech boost for use in the UK – the first country in the world to approve a product against Covid-19.
The jab has been shown in studies to be 95 per cent effective and works in all age groups.
Scotland’s share of the initial 800,000 doses heading for the UK from Pfizer’s factory in Belgium will be 65,600, which will give 32,800 people the two doses needed.
The programme of vaccination will begin as soon as the vaccines arrive, with thousands of NHS medical staff already trained in how to issue it.
Another 30million doses are expected in the New Year and the combined total will be enough to vaccinate 20million people across the UK.
Those giving the vaccine to the public will be among the first to receive it and priority will be given to the elderly and health care workers.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was “without a shadow of a doubt the best news we have heard since this pandemic started”.
She added: “Today is genuinely a good day. We are not at the end of this pandemic yet and, of course, we cannot and we must not ease up in our effort to control it but today does feel like it is the beginning of the end of this horrible experience.
“I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels a lightness of heart I haven’t felt in quite some time.”
She added: “We expect vaccines to be delivered over the course of December. We expect that will start to happen over the next few days. And if we receive the first doses as soon as we expect to, the first vaccines against Covid will be administered in Scotland on Tuesday, December 8.
“You can perhaps understand why I’ve perhaps smiled more in the last few minutes than you’ve seen me do in several months.”
Sturgeon said: “We will start by vaccinating people who will be vaccinating everyone else.
“We will then follow the independent advice we’ve received from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. They’ve recommended prioritising those with the greatest clinical need, including older residents in care homes, health and social care workers and those aged over 80.”
The vaccine will be delivered to 23 different sites in Scotland by refrigerated lorry.
But Sturgeon said keeping the drug at ultra-low temperatures meant there were problems transporting the drug to places such as care homes and that, initially, residents may be taken to areas to be vaccinated.
She said details about the vaccination programme were at an “advanced stage” but final arrangements were still being ironed out.
Sturgeon believes the news should motivate Scots to do all they can to keep “ourselves and each other safe, including over the forthcoming Christmas period”.
She confirmed she would be
We cannot and we must not ease up in our effort to control it but today does feel like it is the beginning of the end of this horrible experience NICOLA STURGEON
willing to take the vaccine herself live on TV if she thought it would persuade the sceptics it was safe.
Sturgeon said: ”If I thought there was value in it, people wanted me to do it and if I thought it would persuade anybody to do it, I will do it. But I’m not sure I am the best person for this, knowing how much people trust politicians.”
Well-known Scots, such as Sir Andy Murray, could also be brought in to promote the vaccine.
Approval of the vaccine comes nine months after Covid forced Scotland into lockdown, leading to restrictions imposed on people’s lives and businesses to help control the spread.
Professor Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at Edinburgh University, said the vaccine may “make people rethink their Christmas plans”. She said: “We’re going to get through this in the next few months but in the meantime, we need to buy time through distancing measures by being cautious, through restrictions, to allow the vaccine to be delivered in enough doses to enough of the population.
“This is going to take months. The gradual easing of restrictions is what we’re likely to see rather than life just going back to normal from one day to the next.”
But Sridhar said she was optimistic life could return to normal by next summer as in addition to the Pfizer vaccine there are also alternatives, such as the Moderna and AstraZeneca products, in the pipeline.
She added: “We’re seeing the impact mass testing can have. We’re also going to be entering the warmer months and we know this virus transmits much less outdoors. The combination means we will be a strong position next summer – and that’s what people need to look forward to.”
However, the professor said she feared “vaccine hesitancy”.
She said: “People are a bit nervous because of the speed of the process. Is this a safe vaccine? Do I want to come forward for vaccination?”
Sridhar added: “Scientists, my colleagues, are all willing to step up and have the vaccine when it is our turn in the queue.
“I think as many scientists and political leaders who can show this vaccine is safe, we are willing to take it and that this is a good way forward for this pandemic, the better it is to convince people it has not just been rushed. It has been done in a proper and approved process.
“The trial data has been going into the agencies on a rolling basis, which means they have been evaluating not just the final results but the mid-term ones as well.
“Based on the approval process, they think it is now safe to roll out to the population.
“Because we’re in an emergency situation, they have moved faster in the approval process.
“In the next week or two we are likely to see more and more countries and the European agency approving these vaccines. It is just the UK has moved first.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I am confident now that from Easter onwards, things will be better and we are going to have a summer next year we can enjoy.”