100,000 still waiting on vaccine after deadline
● Over-50s and vulnerable face delay despite target being declared met
The Scottish Government has been accused of “jumping the gun” over announcements on vaccine targets causing “dangerous” confusion.
It comes after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced last week the mid- april target for offering a first dose of vaccine to everyone in the first nine JCVI priority groups had “effectively” been hit, with some people perhaps having “fallen through the cracks”.
But figures released by Public Health Scotland show that at least 104,000 people in those eligible groups, which include all over-50s and those over-16 with an underlying health condition, have not yet had a first dose.
Some 102,693 people with underlying health conditions have not had a dose (13.5 per cent of the cohort) along with 36,489 people aged 55-59 and 9,711 people aged 50-54.
People in their 50s with underlying health conditions will be counted in both these groups.
Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie called on the Scottish Government to be “upfront and clear” about whether or not the target had been hit.
“In a public health emergency, spin like this will only cause confusion and could even be dangerous,” she said.
She added: “The SNP Government needs to be upfront and clear with the public, not jumping the gun for positive news stories.”
Scottish conservative health spokesperson Donald Cameron said ministers had a“duty to be honest ”.
“The vaccination programme has been an extraordinary success across Scotland and the united kingdom and it was right that ambitious targets were set,” he said.
“However, there is a duty ons np ministers to be honest with people about how many vaccines have actually been delivered by the set deadlines. Many individuals who are in the priority groups will not recognise claims that targets have been hit.
“SNP Ministers should present clear and accurate data at all times in relation to the vaccination roll out to ensure a potentially misleading picture is not being presented.”
Alex Cole-hamilton, of the Liberal Democrats, said the number of Scots in priority groups still without a first dose is “worrying”.
"If it is a question of hesitancy about vaccinations, we will need a fresh effort to track down all of those who face a heightened risk of the virus and give them the confidence they need to get
vaccinated,” he said. “If it is purely logistical then there are questions to be answered about why the Health Secretary has still not got to grips with these delays.”
A spokesperson for the SNP accused opposition parties of trying to“under mine” the vaccination programme, and insistedthat the 100,000 eligible scots without a jag is a “small number”.
"We have been clear that due to the sheer scale and complexity of the vaccination programme that there may be a small number of people who have not had their invitation letters promptly - we continue to urge anyone in that position to contact the helpline to get their appointment resolved,” they said.
"There will also be some people who chose not to take up the vaccine or who are advised against it when they go for their appointment - and we would continue to urge them and everyone to take up their vaccine when they are offered it to help protect themselves from this terrible virus."
Meanwhile, Covid vaccine supply for first doses has been “squeezed” recently over a drop in supply, chief medical officer Gregor Smith said, as Scotland recorded its lowest daily first dose figures this week.
Some 2,500 first doses were given on wednesday, just slightly more than the all-time low of 2,350 the day before. Daily figures have dropped by around 10,000 compared to last week.
It comes as continued pressure on vaccine supply in Scotland has seen priority given to second doses, with the yet-to-be vaccinated taking a back seat.
Guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (jcvi) states that a second dose should be given up to 12 weeks after the first.
Second doses have continued at pace, with over 50,000 delivered on Wednesday.
Chief Medical Officer Gregor Smith said he expects vaccine supply to “open up again” for first doses soon.
“We always knew that the dosage schedule was going to become squeezed at this point in time because of the supply chain that was in place,” he said on Thursday.
"It’s right that we concentrate on those second dosages just now to make sure that people are fully vaccinated. It's important that we get people as close to that 12- week mark as possible to receive that second dose.
“Inevitably the consequence of that is that the first doses have been squeezed at this moment in time.
“But we do expect that supply will begin to open up for that first dose again so that we can start to move more firmly into that area again in the future.
“The exact timing that we start to see that is going to be a gradual escalation of those first doses, but i' m optimistic that we' ll start to see that opening up soon.”
Dr Smith said he is aware of a “small number” of scots receiving their second vaccine dose more than the recommended 12 weeks after the first.
National Clinical Director Jason Leitch stressed this is not a problem from a clinical point of view.
"From a clinical perspective, we are not as tied to an exact date of 12 weeks [...] we are comfortable with a margin of error, a little bit before, a little bit after, it’ s not an exact science ,” he said.
“Getting your second dose at 14 or 15 weeks is absolutely fine .”
And Dr Smith said yesterday that scotland will hopefully never see another lock down of the type the country went through last spring and this winter.
Speaking to a Covid -19briefing, dr smith said he is “encouraged” that the further ea sing of restrictions on Monday will mark a lifting of the kind of lock down Scotland will not return to.
The current impact of the vaccination programme, adherence to restrictions andthe test and protect system are working well, dr smith said, and if they continue to do so he does not expect another lockdown.
“I would hope that background of immunity which is starting to develop within the country very much reduces the likelihood of us ever having to return to lockdown again,” he said.
But Dr Smith added that the “unknown” factor is how well vaccines will respond to new variants of Covid-19.
“I think for the virus that we have currently within this country [the vaccine] is having its intended effect against it. It’s certainly reducing severe disease, it’s reducing deaths, and it’s reduced hospitalizations already so all that is incredibly encouraging against the known variants that we have in this country,” he said.
“Of course the unknown in all of this is how that vaccine will respond to some of the emerging variants that we’re starting to see across the globe.
“I suspect that overtime, we' re going to find that updates to these vaccines will take place to make sure that they are configured to be much much more useful in terms of these variants, and inevitably the further variants that we will begin to see develop as well."
Scotland’s current defence against the virus is “threepronged”, Dr Smith said.
“It's the vaccination programme, it's the behaviours that you, myself and others take everyday in society and how we interact with others, and it's the test and protect system in terms of being able to identify people, advising them to isolate, and for them to comply with that isolation as well,” he said. “If those three things are working together well, then I would certainly be encouraged that the really severe restrictions that we had in place just before last summer, and then through the winter, will hopefully be much less necessary in the future.”
Scotland has recorded 231 new Covid-19 cases and three further deaths, according to the latest figures.
Move to offer under-30s an AZ alternative ‘has not increased vaccine hesitancy’
The recent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decision to offer under-30s an alternative to the Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine has not led to an increase in vaccine hesitancy, Scottish Government clinicians have said.
The decision was taken in early April over a possible link between the vaccine and “extremely rare” blood clots. It was not extended to the over-30s as they are at a higher risk from Covid-19 than younger age groups, and the virus presents a much greater danger than the vaccine.
The decision has not led to any increased vaccine hesitancy, National Clinical Director Jason Leitch said on Thursday.
Professor Leitch said: “I’ve heard and seen no data that suggests that that has led to anything.
"You get questions of
Elsa Maishman
course, vaccine hesitancy is a normal thing and we’re dealing with that as and when it occurs.”
Chief Medical Officer Gregor Smith added that vaccine take-up has been extremely good.
“At this point in time we’re not seeing any concerning data at all in relation to uptake of the vaccine, in fact quite the contrary,” he said.
“Since the beginning of the vaccination programme I have been absolutely buoyant at the number of people who've been stepping up to receive their vaccine.
“If you look at the most recent age group, which we are in the process of completing, people aged 50 to 54, even there we've got an uptake of 91 per cent at this point in time.
“These are absolutely incredible figures, and there's no vaccination programmes that we've conducted across this country which have got close so consistently across all these different age groups in terms of their uptake.
“There is no data at this point in time that causes me concern in relation to that uptake.”
It comes after a survey by Stirling University researchers found no significant drop in the number of people intending to get a vaccine in the wake of the updated guidance.
Dr David Comerford, of Stirling’s Behavioural Science Centre, said: “I was surprised – I thought we would see a change in response following the UK regulator’s new guidance.
“Perhaps not from the under-30s, who would be offered different vaccines, but if you were 31–35, say, we would have expected hesitancy."
Meanwhile, a 91-year-old grandmother who became the first person in the world to have the Pfizer vaccine as part of the mass vaccination rollout has praised "incredible" NHS staff and urged people to get their second dose.
The face of Margaret Keenan – known as Maggie – made news around the world in December last year after she was given the coronavirus jab at University Hospital Coventry.
In a Zoom call with NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens, the grandmother of four was asked what she would say to anyone feeling hesitant about getting a second jab.
Mrs Keenan replied: "I would be saying 'go and get it, and get it now'.
"Because it [would be] the best thing they've ever done, really. [It's] the best thing I ever did.”