Summer steps out in memory of dad COPSWARN TO KEEP VACCINE SAFE NHS staff told of theft risk
Young Summer Gray has put her best foot forward to pay tribute to her dad this week.
The eight-year-old from Perth has been walking circuits of the city’s parks to recreate the strolls she used to take with dad Christopher, who died suddenly a year ago.
Summer hopes to raise money and awareness for Andys Man Club.
Saturday, February 6 is the first anniversary of Christopher’s death and balloons will be let off from Moncreiffe Island to mark the sad milestone.
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Police Scotland this week issued a security warning to Perth and Kinross health professionals over storage of the COVID vaccine.
An official email sent to some NHS Tayside staff said “careful consideration” should be given to how to keep the vaccine safe, with theft thought to be the most likely threat.
Perthshire North MSP John Swinney told the PA that “no one should feel that it is necessary to steal doses of the vaccine”.
The letter was raised at a meeting of Perth and
Kinross Council’s housing and communities committee on Wednesday, February 2.
SNP councillor Tom McEwan is an NHS Tayside pharmacist and, after hearing Police Scotland’s quarterly report, the Blairgowrie and Glens councillor told the committee: “Yesterday I received an email about the security of the COVID vaccine.
“There were concerns that people might target stealing it.”
The letter issued focussed on the storage of vaccines in the likes of GP surgeries and care homes.
Cllr McEwan questioned what security measures were in place to ensure the security of COVID vaccines at larger community vaccination sites such as the Dewars Centre in Perth.
CI Graham Binnie said he did not know enough about the situation to give a definitive answer. But he said he did know conversations were going on presently about both traffic management and the security of the centres themselves and the vaccine.
Depute chief executive Barbara Renton further reassured councillors that security arrangements were being considered.
She said: “Up until last week I was chairing the local resilience partnership local authority sub group in terms of mass vaccinations. And there has been a police representative on all of those meetings since that group started early in December.”
Mrs Renton said police were “well aware” across Tayside of those security issues and PKC continued to work closely with them in relation to that.
The official Police Scotland letter issued to NHS Tayside colleagues listed measures to ensure the safety of the vaccine but stated there was “no information to suggest any specific security threat to vaccine storage” at GP surgeries or care homes.
The most likely threat was listed as being “theft”.
After the meeting, Perthshire North MSP John Swinney told the PA the pace of the vaccine rollout should deter anyone from feeling the need to steal it.
The SNP MSP said: “As we continue to battle against COVID, the vaccine is our most potent weapon and best hope of returning to more normal times. Accordingly, it is important that steps are taken to ensure the security of vaccine supplies.”
Despite criticism of the vaccine rollout in Scotland, with the nation not matching the pace of the rest of the UK, the deputy first minister insisted the government was “on track to meet its vaccination targets” and the pace of the rollout across Perth and Kinross was “efficient”.
A Police Scotland spokesperson later said: “The storage and control of medication is a matter for individual health authorities, however, we will work with all partners to offer advice and support where required.”
An NHS Tayside spokesperson said: “We have been working closely with colleagues in Police Scotland regarding security at our vaccination centres. We are following Police Scotland guidance and putting in place recommended security solutions.”