‘Strong evidence’ vaccines having effect
Nicola Sturgeon hailed a fall in the proportion of Covid deaths in Scotland’s care homes as proof that the vaccines are having a positive effect.
She said there was now “strong and compelling evidence” that the vaccination programme was reducing the number of people dying with Covid.
Speakingatthedailycoronavirusbriefing,thefirstminister said yesterday’s National Registers of Scotland figures showed a 62 per cent reduction in the number of Covid deaths in care homes over the past three weeks.
She said: “That is a larger decline than we have seen for the deaths happening in hospitals or in people’s own homes.
“As a result of that, the proportionofcoviddeathstaking placeincarehomeshasfallen from 34 per cent around the start of this year to 13 per cent last week.
"And with the exception of oneweekattheendofaugust, when there were only two
Covid deaths registered overall, care homes accounted for a smaller proportion of Covid deaths last week than at any time since March of last year, in other words since virtually the beginning of the pandemic.
"So that does give us quite strong confidence now that the early vaccination of care home residents and the focus on trying to maximise uptake within older people’s care homes is now having the impact we desperately hoped to see it have.
“This initial indication the vaccination is starting to protect people is undoubtedly really positive news.”