Demand for regular mass Covid-19 testing in Scotland
●Calls for same access to rapid checks as those in England as lockdown eases
There have been calls for Scots to have the same access to rapid Covid-19 testing as people in England, after it was announced that a free lateral flow test would be offered to everyone south of the Border twice a week.
It comes as lockdown restrictions in Scotland ease further today, with hairdressers and some non-essential retail allowed to reopen. Garden centres, car showrooms, and homeware stores can open from today, while more university and college students can return to campus, and contact sports can resume for 11- to 17-year-olds.
The rapid Covid-19 tests – which give results in half an hour – will be available to everyone in England, even without symptoms of the virus, from Friday, the UK government said. People will be able to obtain a test through a home ordering service, workplace or school testing programme, or by collecting one at a
local test site. A new “pharmacy collect” service will allow anyone over 18 without symptoms of Covid-19 to visit a participating pharmacy and collect a box of seven rapid tests to use twice a week at home.
Yesterday, it also emerged the UK government is set to announce a trial of vaccine certificates to gain access to sporting and entertainment events in England.
The Scottish Government does not currently have plans for a similar trial as “ethical questions” remain.
Scottish Labour has now called for the same offer of widespread testing to be rolled out north of the Border.
The party’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie, said: “Today many Scots will head to get a haircut or go to a garden centre – and they will know that these newly returned freedoms are the result of the dedication of our NHS, care staff and vaccinators.
“But they will be at risk if we do not have the tools to break transmission chains and suppress infections.
“The WHO said the key to tackling Covid was test, test, test. In response the SNP has been slow, slow, slow.
“Scotland needs the same access to twice-weekly mass
testing as we will now see in England – and the Scottish Government is responsible for the failure to deliver it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the roll-out of the tests would help stop Covid-19 outbreaks “in their tracks” in England.
He said: “As we continue to make good progress on our vaccine programme and with our road map to cautiously easing restrictions under way, regular rapid testing is even more important to make sure those efforts are not wasted.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Around one in three people who have Covid-19 show no symptoms.
“And as we reopen society and resume parts of life we have all dearly missed, regular rapid testing is going to be fundamental in helping us quickly spot positive cases and squash any outbreaks.”
He added: “The British public have shown over the last year
that they quickly adapt and always do what is right in the interest of public health, and I know they will do their bit by getting tested regularly in the months ahead.”
Lateral flow testing – which is faster although less accurate than the alternative “gold standard” PCR testing – is considered an especially useful measure when done regularly.
An SNP spokesperson said: “We use lateral flow in key settings like healthcare, schools and colleges and workplaces where people are likely to catch Covid.
“We are currently looking at options to further roll out lateral flow testing.
“However, it must be stressed that lateral flow tests are not a ‘magic bullet’ and can never be treated as a replacement for following the rules of F.A.C.T.S. and keeping each other safe.”
The rapid tests are currently offered twice a week to health and social care workers, as well as teachers and older school pupils.
Meanwhile, the trial of vaccine certificates in England is set to inform a more widespread form of “vaccine passports”.
Events in the trial will include the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on 17 April, the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, and a mass participation run at Hatfield House, a stately home in Hertfordshire with expansive gardens and parkland, on 24-25 April.
The pilot will culminate with the FA Cup Final, again at Wembley, on 15 May.
However, the move is likely to prove controversial, with many MPS deeply concerned about the implications for civil liberties of requiring people to prove whether they are clear of the disease in order to attend certain events.
Asked if the Scottish Government is planning a similar trial in Scotland, a spokesperson said the issue was under consideration but questions remain.
They said: “We recognise the potential of vaccine certification for international travel as part of global arrangements, however there are ethical and equity questions to be answered as part of considering using vaccine certification for access to places people visit as part of their everyday lives.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie warned yesterday that vaccine passports could pave the way for a “permanent ID card”.
Mr Rennie said: “This is ‘super ID cards’ by the back door. Vaccine passports will divide the country, effectively make vaccination compulsory and pave the way for a permanent ID card.
“Liberal Democrats oppose the use of vaccine passports for accessing public spaces, services and events. The best way to keep our country safe is suppress the community spread of the virus by vaccinating almost everyone.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Saturday that a trial of vaccine certificates in Scotland was “possible”.
“I think as all of us desperately want to get back to normal we should absolutely not close our minds to anything that might have a part to play in that,” she told Radio Forth.
“There are big equity and ethical questions – not everybody can be vaccinated, because of some health reasons, younger people at the moment are not currently in the vaccine programme, the vaccines are not authorised for younger people yet.
“We’ve got to be clear about the basis on which we are doing this, and be able to answer some of those questions.”
THE SCOTSMAN Monday 5 April 2021
Sturgeon ‘can’t wait’ to get Covid jab – but union says teachers are being denied time off to get theirs
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she “can’t wait” to receive her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine later this month.
She said it had been a “grim year” for everybody because of the virus, as she revealed that she will receive her first injection in mid-april.
Like many other people, Ms Sturgeon, 50, tweeted a picture of her blue envelope with the vaccine appointment after it arrived through her letterbox. She said: “It’s middle of April it’s due. I can’t wait.”
She added that she has been waiting for the letter to arrive, as she was aware health service bosses in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where she lives, had started sending out appointments to those aged over 50.
Ms Sturgeon revealed she received her vaccination appointment at the same
time as her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, got his.
She said: “Peter is a few years older than me, so I expected his to come before mine. He was getting very, ‘Where’s my blue envelope?’.
“They actually came on the same day, and he gets his [vaccine] a day before me, at a different vaccination centre. Obviously I am in a younger cohort, which is why I am going somewhere else.”
Ms Sturgeon said that while she has been leading the Scottish Government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis, she has also “experienced this as a human being over the past year”.
She recalled how last year she had been unable to visit her nephew on his 18th birthday because of the virus, and said that although he had now turned 19 she had only seen him “outdoors, I think
twice, in the intervening period”.
Ms Sturgeon said: “All of that, separation from family, all of the trauma, the upset that everybody is experiencing, I am not exempt from. It has been a grim year for everybody.”
She added that the vaccination campaign was “going well” in all four nations of the UK, with a high take-up rate for the jabs.
“People just want to get vaccinated,” Ms Sturgeon said. “If I look at my Twitter feed, it is just full of people posting pictures of their blue envelopes and full of joy at getting to be vaccinated.”
Meanwhile, some schools are not giving teachers time off from work to receive their Covid-19 vaccine, a teaching union leader has said.
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, has called on ministers to act
and “step in” when employers refuse to listen to teachers” concerns, as he said they “deserve better”.
Addressing the NASUWT’ s annual conference, Dr Roach highlighted “shoddy” practices where he said some employers have not put teachers ' safety first.
He said: “Ministers mustn’t only listen to the concerns of the profession, they need to act on them. Listen to teachers ' concerns about those employers who have felt emboldened to pursue ‘business as usual ’ .
“Listen to teachers ' concerns about uncaring employers who seek to discipline teachers if they contract Covid, or tell teachers they can ’ t have time off to receive their Covid vaccine jab.”
Dr Roach said reports of school staff being denied time off to get their vaccination were “widespread”.