Awe inspiring

than teams on the ground had capacity to manage.

Despite the difficulties, 5,000 people got their jabs in the kingdom on Monday – the highest number in a single day – and by roping in extra staff, rather than cancelling appointments, the board was hoping to have vaccinated 41,000 people by the end of the week, rather than the 37,000 it had planned for.

The system, which Fife was pioneering in a partnership with NHS National Services Scotland, was due to be extended across the mainland by the end of this week, so here’s hoping painful lessons have been learned and the rest of us can chalk it up as one more thing to thank the Fifers for.

I don’t blame people for being angry. If my parents had been left to stand outside in the cold for hours in sub-zero temperatures I’d have been pretty hacked off too. A nation starved of grandkids’ hugs, football matches, restaurant meals, shopping trips, holiday plans, boozy nights out and all the other pick-me-ups we once took for granted can be forgiven for feeling fractious and there’s a lot riding on the success of this programme.

That it didn’t go as smoothly as we might have hoped is regrettable. But the fact that it went ahead at all this week – a year into a pandemic when the people involved are as worn out, weary, cold and starved of light as the rest of us – and that, in a nation of five million people, a million and counting are already on their way to being protected against this foul disease, is pretty awe inspiring.

It’s almost enough to make you believe that brighter days are up ahead. vaccination

KEEP WARM AND CARRY ON: Main picture, then clockwise: Stewards ready to direct members of the public into the Caird Hall in Dundee for their Covid jabs; clearing snow at Arbroath Harbour; and Morag’s colleague Jack Mckeown making the most of the snow with golden retriever Bracken in tow. Pictures by Mhairi Edwards and Andrew Farrell.