JABS FOR EVERY ADULT BY AUTUMN
Pledge comes as number of hospital patients hits high
A FIRST dose of the Covid jab will be offered to every adult in Scotland by the autumn, a top Tory pledged yesterday.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab targeted September, adding: “If we can do it faster than that, great.”
EVERY adult in Scotland will be offered a first dose of Covid vaccine by September, a Tory minister has pledged.
Dominic Raab said yesterday that the UK Government was working towards a target of the entire country receiving their first jag by early autumn.
The announcement came as official figures showed more people are now in Scottish hospitals with coronavirus than at any time during the pandemic.
But the Scottish Government has stepped up its recruitment of vaccinators to administer doses across the country, with more than 5000 registered so far – a figure which does not include all participating GPs.
More than half a million Scots are expected to have had their first dose by the end of January.
Speaking on Sky yesterday, Raab said: “Our target is by September to have offered all the adult population a first dose. If we can do it faster than that, great, but that’s the roadmap.”
He said he hoped by the “early spring” some restrictions can be lifted “gradually” so the country can “get back to normal”.
But the Foreign Secretary warned that the plan could be put “at risk” by the new variants and pressure on the NHS as he urged people to follow the rules.
More than 3.5million people in the UK have now received their first dose of a vaccine and 324,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines were administered in the space of 24 hours.
The UK Government is responsible for ordering vaccines, while it is left to the devolved governments to administer them in their respective countries.
The Health Secretary said last week that everyone aged 80 or over will be given a coronavirus vaccine by next month.
Jeane Freeman made the promise as the Oxford/AstraZeneca jag was rolled out in more than 1000 locations in Scotland.
The total number of people vaccinated by the end of the month will be just under 560,000, she told MSPs.
The announcement came as Scotland recorded 1341 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and no new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in the previous 28 days.
The number of new infections is 412 below the 1753 announced on Saturday and is the lowest since December 28 – although there tend to be fewer cases recorded at the weekend.
But the number of patients in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus continues to reach record levels – increasing daily since Christmas Day, when there were 973 people in hospital.
As of Saturday evening, Scotland’s hospitals were treating a record 1918 patients – 147 of whom were in an intensive care unit.
An additional 25 coronavirus patients have been admitted since the previous day, with two more in ICU wards.
New cases fell in every mainland health board region, according to the latest Scottish Government figures.
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, 75 were in Fife, 74 in the Forth Valley, 71 on Tayside, 48 in Dumfries and Galloway, 43 in Highland and 10 in the Borders.
SIX-YEAR-OLD twins with an ultra-rare lifeshortening condition could be stuck at home until they die because they can’t get the Covid vaccine.
The two jags approved in the UK – Pfizer and AstraZeneca – are only approved for adults.
But Orin and Olivia Arthur, who live near Tain, Easter Ross, have Pompe disease – in which glycogen builds up in cells and impairs organs, including the heart, lungs, and the skeletal muscles. There is no cure but enzyme replacement therapy can slow down the progression of the disease.
Their dad Stephen, 31, said: “It is a progressive disease but they are doing amazingly well.
“Orin has really good motor skills, he is walking, he speaks and he signs to fill the gaps in his talking. Cognitively he is entirely there. You have to take a second look to see that anything is wrong with him.
“Olivia is on a ventillator and tracheoctomy and has developed severe scoliosis. Her spine in S-shaped and she is chairbound but cognitively she is a smart wee cookie. With the tracheoctomy she can’t speak apart from a few words like mum, dad and Santa. But she is showing good development with it.”
But their health can change from day to day.
Stephen said: “It is always in your mind that it is inevitable they will die.
“About 18 months ago I had to resuscitate Olivia from a cardiac arrest.
“There are times when she has been out playing and a couple of days later we are in ICU being told she is not going to make it.
“I can’t believe the number of times we have been told to say goodbye. We locked down before shielding started in March. At the end of February we took them out of school. Both kids had a cold and we took the decision not to send them back.”
Before the twins were diagnosed, Stephen and wife Lyndsay had not heard of the condition but they were both carriers.
When shielding ended in the summer, the Arthurs had to keep away from everyone else. The twins haven’t seen their grandparents for almost a year. Stephen said: “We’ve been told if the twins get
Covid they won’t survive it. The family are begging for the vaccine to be given to the children.
“I’m told there are no plans to give the vaccines to children but if there are no clear safety concerns we should be giving it to the most vulnerable kids. By the time they make the decision will my kids still be here to get the vaccine?”
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority said the “safety” of the jags had not been established for children under 16.