Vaccines for all in 10 weeks (despite missing 400,000)
ALL Scottish adults will get both doses of a Covid vaccine by mid-September, Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.
She also forecast normal life can still resume before the end of summer due to the faster-thanexpected rollout of the jabs.
The First Minister promised this will allow the exit from lockdown to get back on track despite being paused earlier this month.
New data has given hope that the number of people who will end up in hospital and intensive care will be lower than expected amid optimism that the vaccine campaign is preventing serious illness.
The upbeat message came despite cases continuing to rise because of the spread of the Delta variant.
It also emerged earlier this week that almost 400,000 Scots have not turned up to receive their first Covid
‘Faster progress than we thought’
jabs since February. Health chiefs have admitted they could not account for the huge number of no-shows, as well as a further 20,000 who have missed second vaccine doses.
Some 3.5million Scots have had a first vaccine dose, while 2.5million have also received a second, including three-quarters of all over-40s.
Miss Sturgeon said she now expects the rollout of first doses to all adults to be completed by July 18, which she said is ‘faster progress than we thought might be possible just even a few weeks ago’.
She also confirmed all second dose appointments will be scheduled for within eight weeks of the first – meaning the programme could be completed by September 12.
She called for a ‘national collective effort’ to encourage those who had missed appointments to come forward.
It was confirmed earlier this week the next step out of lockdown – initially planned for June 28 – is likely to be delayed for at least three more weeks because of the rise in cases linked to the Delta variant.
Currently, 14 of Scotland’s 32 council areas, with a combined population of nearly three million people, are in Level 2 of lockdown, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In a briefing yesterday, Miss Sturgeon – due to have her second jab on Monday – said: ‘Vaccines are the way back to normality. I think we are increasingly confident of that and… every single one of us who gets these jags is representing a step back towards normal life.’
She said all adults should have received an appointment by the end of next week, adding it was ‘this progress with vaccination that gives us real hope’ that ‘we’ll still be able, over the course of the summer, to ease restrictions further and get back to much greater normality’.
There was also optimism the vaccine is weakening the link between a rise in cases and hospitalisations and deaths.
The latest figures yesterday showed 950 more cases, slightly lower than the 1,317 confirmed on Thursday, which was the highest since January. The number of people in hoslower pital with Covid declined by 12 yesterday, to 128, while the number in intensive care was unchanged at 12 and there were a further two deaths.
A Scottish Government report published yesterday confirmed the latest evidence indicates the numbers who end up in hospital and intensive care with the virus may be than first expected. The worst-case scenario is now thought to be that just over 30 people will be in intensive care at the start of July, while a better-case estimate says it could be below 20.
Miss Sturgeon said she could not say the next step of lockdown will ‘definitely’ go ahead on July 19, but she was ‘optimistic’ of lifting more curbs.
Scottish Labour health and Covid recovery spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘As we look ahead to the next stage of unlocking, the Scottish Government need to learn from the mistakes of the past when designing their guidance.’
Meanwhile, the SNP Government has published legislation, to be voted on next week, to extend emergency Covid laws for up to 15 months.
‘The way back to normality’