NEW WARNING OVER ‘PATCHY’ JAB SUPPLIES
GPs’ leader says some surgeries have yet to get any vaccines
SCOTLAND’S Covid vaccine rollout is being hindered by ‘patchy’ supplies, doctors have warned.
The leader of Scotland’s GPs has said some clinics have had no vaccines delivered so far, despite a goal to give all over-80s jabs by early February.
Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the Scottish General Practitioners Committee at the British Medical Association, said despite good progress vaccinating health and care staff and care home residents, there is a ‘problem’ with the next group, the over-80s.
he said: ‘i think so far we’ve made good progress with our top priority group.
‘The problem lies with the next priority group, which is the 80-plus group, because the supply of the vaccines so far has been quite patchy. Some practices have had good
supply, some have had none so far. My practis has had 100 doses so far to do 600 80-plus year-olds. I have to do another 1,200 patients in the 70-plus group and extremely clinically vulnerable by the middle of February. So we need to do 1,700 vaccines in the next four weeks. We can do that. But we need the vaccine.’
Opposition politicians also raised fears that delays in vaccines being delivered will ‘hinder’ the progress of the rollout. The news came as:
∎ The Royal Army Medical Corps and Royal Regiment of Scotland announced plans to set up 80 new vaccine centres;
∎ The UK Government said every adult in Britain will have been offered a vaccine by September;
∎ The number of new Covid-19 cases in Scotland dropped by more than 400;
∎ Supermarkets faced criticism over allegations they have failed to properly enforce coronavirus rules.
Dr Buist explained GPs cannot invite patients until they have stocks in their fridges. He said: ‘We can’t plan. That’s the key thing. We were given 100 doses on Monday. We used that up by Friday.’
The Scottish Government’s goal is to be immunising 400,000 Scots a week.
However, concerns were raised last week Scotland is ‘falling behind’.
On Thursday, NHS England vaccinated 279,649 people with their first or second doses, compared to 16,774 in Scotland.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said Scotland would need an estimated 3,400 vaccinators once delivery is ramped up to include the under-60s and second doses from the end of February.
Some 5,500 healthcare professionals have registered their interest, including dentists, pharmacists and optometrists, and retired nurses and midwives.
One leading dentist said he gave up registering as a vaccinator amid a barrage of paperwork and training modules ranging in everything from radicalisation prevention and fire safety to IT security, equality and diversity awareness.
David McColl, chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said: ‘It’s a fiasco. You’re looking at doing 15 hours of modules and that’s before you even begin the application process. You’re talking about me, with 33 years in dentistry, having to do equality and diversity training.’
Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘We need to make sure there’s as little red tape as possible and that it’s very simple for trained medical professionals to get involved. Excessive bureaucracy and delays to the vaccine reaching GPs will hinder progress.’
In addition to local health board training, more than 4,000 people have taken part in training to administer the Pfizer vaccine and 4,700 on the Oxford vaccine.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are actively recruiting from NHS Scotland’s accelerated recruitment portal, and drawing from the wider clinical workforce, including dentists, GPs and pharmacists.
‘We know there have been some initial delays in supply reaching some practices and are working with health boards to resolve this.’