ARMY SUPPORT TO DELIVER JABS
Armed forces will help set up vaccination centres
THE army will be brought in to help set up vaccination centres across Scotland as the programme to protect millions of people continues. Mass vaccination centres are needed to deliver the volume of vaccinations to the whole adult population.
The NHS Louisa Jordan temporary hospital at the SEC has been turned into a vaccination centre with 5000 doses given to people on Saturday.
The UK Government said soldiers will organise vaccine delivery to the sites, prepare storage for medicines and equipment and help to register and record patients, as well as sorting car parking and traffic flow around the sites.
The troops, most of whom will be from the Leuchars-based Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, will then hand over the running of the sites to the health service.
According to Scottish Government figures as of yesterday, 224,840 people had received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination and 3331 had received their second dose.
The latest coronavirus statistics showed there had been another 1341 new positive cases in the past 24 hours.
The number of new infections is 412 below the 1753 announced on Saturday and is the lowest daily number since December 28.
The number of coronavirus patients in hospital continues to reach record levels.
As of Saturday evening, Scotland’s hospitals were treating 1918 infected patients, 147 of whom were in an intensive care unit.
An additional 25 coronavirus patients had been admitted to hospital since the previous day, with two more in ICU wards.
Of the 1341 new cases, 412 were discovered in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 226 in Lanarkshire, 131 in Grampian and 125 in Ayrshire and Arran.
NHS Lothian recorded 123 new cases, with 75 in Fife, 74 in the Forth Valley, 71 on Tayside, 48 in Dumfries and Galloway, 43 in the Highlands and 10 in the Borders.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack welcomed the army’s involvement in the vaccination centres.
He said: “For us all, vaccines are the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’m very pleased that the expertise of the British armed forces is helping the Scottish Government get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible.
“The UK Government is supplying and paying for vaccines for the whole of the UK – it is now vital that these doses are administered as soon as possible.
“The UK Government is supporting all parts of the UK during the pandemic. That includes our unprecedented furlough scheme, delivering the bulk of daily testing in Scotland and providing the Scottish Government with an extra £8.6 billion to support Scotland’s Covid response.”
Meanwhile, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said lockdown easing could start in March.
He told Sky’s Sophie Ridge programme: “What we want to do is get out of these national lockdowns as soon as possible. The roadmap that I described is that by early spring, hopefully by March, we’ll be in a position to make those decisions.
“I think it’s right to say we won’t do it all in one big bang; as we phase out of the national lockdown, I think we’ll end up phasing through the tiered approach.
“We want to make sure that we can do it in a safe way, but at this point in time, really focus on protecting the NHS and rolling out the vaccine.”