GET SET FOR THE VACCINE ROLLOUT
Mass campaign to start in two weeks... at GP surgeries, stadiums – and concert halls
THE mass rollout of coronavirus vaccinations will begin within a fortnight at venues including GP surgeries, football stadiums and concert halls. Health boards have drawn up detailed plans for how the programme will be taken to communities the length and breadth of the country from early next month.
It comes as the Oxford University/ AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to get regulatory approval within days, allowing the expansion of efforts to immunise more Scots and combat the threat of endless lockdowns.
The new jab is more suited to community rollout because it can be stored more easily in normal refrigerator temperatures than
the existing Pfizer vaccine. If approved, the first supplies of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab are expected to be sent to Scotland within the next week.
SNP ministers have set a date of January 11 for the nationwide programme – using both vaccines – to be stepped up in GP surgeries and other community facilities.
The Mail has seen a detailed list of 1,400 ‘January vaccination centres’ produced by the Scottish Government and health boards.
The sites, where health and care workers and people over the age of 80 will get vaccinated, also include unused shops, arts centres, warehouses, ice rinks and hospital facilities.
The mass campaign comes amid fears that pressure on Scotland’s NHS will grow.
These have been fuelled as a result of the faster-spreading new variant of Covid-19, as well as the relaxation of the rules to allow up to eight people from a maximum of three households to meet indoors on Christmas Day.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘Any positive movement on a vaccine should be welcomed, although we must remain patient until the correct checks and approvals are completed.
‘What the SNP Government must urgently ensure is that there is a plan in place for a smooth rollout of any mass vaccine given approval.
‘We don’t want a postcode lottery, and must avoid at all costs a repeat of the shambles that was this year’s flu programme. There is simply no room for error in how these critical vaccines are delivered.’
If the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine is approved early this week, UK Government sources indicate its rollout could begin as early as next Monday.
Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has told MSPs that, if the vaccine is approved before the end of this month, GP surgeries will start immunisation of priority groups from January 11.
Every health board has compiled detailed maps of the locations of the next phase of the rollout, including 367 sites across Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 204 in Grampian, 191 in Lanarkshire, 181 in Lothian and 135 in Highland.
The vast majority are GP surgeries but the list also includes Dunfermline Athletic and Queen of the South football clubs, Lockerbie Ice Rink, the NHS Louisa Jordan Covid hospital in Glasgow, Motherwell Concert Hall, a former Topps Tiles store in Elgin, Moray, a warehouse and two churches in Orkney, the Dewar’s Ice Rink in Perth and the Caird Hall in Dundee.
Health boards will provide further detailed lists of locations – i ncluding mass i mmunisation centres – when the programme expands.
Miss Freeman has said that the target is to vaccinate everyone on the priority list – all those over the age of 50 – ‘in the spring’.
Depending on supplies, it would then be possible to ‘ commence vaccination of the rest of the population’, she said.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The rollout of the vaccine will be dependent upon receiving approval from the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulation Agency] and receiving a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccinat i on and I mmunisation, t he independent clinical body that advises on how it is used.
‘We’ve been preparing for future vaccines and we will announce future deployment dates once the MHRA have formed a view and we understand what, if any, conditions are attached to any approval.’
Every mainland area in Scotland entered Level 4 lockdown on Boxing Day in an attempt to get a grip on the spread of the new Covid strain. It is estimated to be 70 per cent more transmissible.
The tightened restrictions mean large parts of the economy have shut down, including bars, restaurants, cafes, non-essential shops, hairdressers and beauty salons – leading to deserted streets at a time when they would usually be packed with shoppers seeking bargains on the first day of the festive annual sales. In addition, people are banned from travelling to other council areas and have been urged to stay at home.
It comes as the Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties said the festive rules relaxation and the new faster spreading virus strain could create a ‘perfect storm’. In a statement, it said: ‘We know there is hope on the horizon with the rollout of a national i mmunisation pro - gramme, with further vaccines likely to be approved shortly.’
But it said the ‘short-term situation facing our NHS and public health services remains bleak’, adding: ‘We are gravely concerned that this could lead to the NHS being overwhelmed.’
The latest figures showed 740 new confirmed Covid cases in the 24 hours to yesterday morning. The positive test rate soared to 12.3 per cent, well above the 5 per cent level which indicates the virus is under control.
On Saturday, Miss Sturgeon said on social media: ‘Level 4 restrictions are now in place across mainland Scotland.
‘Please stay home/local as much as possible, to help stop this new, faster spreading strain of the virus running out of control.’
‘There is simply no room for error’