• 'Roll your sleeves up' vaccination campaign launched
• John Swinney says the government is "very confident" about reaching over-80s vaccine target
• There are now 28 walk-in test centres in Scotland, with new ones for Glenrothes, Dunfermline and Paisley
• £1m is announced to support child minders
• No more 'easy wins' for hospital staff

• The first minister insists Scotland's Covid vaccination programme is not lagging behind other parts of the UK
• Scotland recorded the highest number of peacetime excess deaths since 1891 last year, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS)
• Health officials have warned that a fall in Covid case numbers in south-west Scotland has not gone far enough and is not happening quickly enough

• Scotland's R number is around 1

Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, accuses Douglas Ross and his Scottish Conservative colleagues of "doing anything they can to twist the picture and undermine public confidence".

He points to the "huge numbers" of people who are working to administer the vaccine and says that it cannot be distributed overnight.

He tells the BBC One programme there should be "no let-up" in testing, supporting people in self-isolation and looking after people working in public services.

If there is a way that the distribution can be improved, the Scottish government should look at that, he adds.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross tells the BBC One programme that thousands of vaccine doses are sitting in "depots and collection points", rather than being injected into people's arms.

"There are GP surgeries that are saying they are ready to vaccinate but they don't have the supplies," he adds.

He also accuses the Scottish government of shifting its vaccination deadline by a week - something that will have an effect on targets for other groups.

Image source, Reuters

Dame Anne Glover, a former chief scientific adviser to the Scottish government, is asked on the BBC One briefing programme how concerned we should be about the new South African variant.

She says the decision to close the UK borders earlier this week will reduce the chance of different variants from entering the country.

If a person has antibodies from the "normal" strain of Covid, they may be less effective at protecting them from the South African strain.

"But the key thing is 'less effective' - not totally ineffective," she adds. "So any vaccine that we have at the moment is likely to have a slightly reduced effectiveness against the new variant - but not no effectiveness."

Image source, MJ Richardson

ITV Border's Peter McMahon asks about the situation in Dumfries and Galloway, where Covid has had a huge impact on local hospitals. He asks if the deputy first minister is confident that hospitals can cope.

John Swinney describes it as a "very serious issue" and one that is being seen in hospitals across the country.

He goes on to say that without the lockdown restrictions we are all living under, it would be "inconceivable" that the health board would have been able to cope.

"I am confident that our health and social care professionals are absolutely devoted every minute of the day to try to address these challenges and working to do so," he adds.

Scotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch says hospitals can only cope because they are on an emergency footing and some procedures are being cancelled.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Smith also asks about NHS Highland asking staff and visitors to wear fluid-resistant surgical masks instead of face coverings in response to the new variant.

Prof Jason Leitch says he has not seen the specific NHS Highland advice, but the general face-covering advice hasn't changed, external and is kept under constant review.

Image source, Getty Images

Alan Smith from Bauer radio asks about the time period between the announcement that schools will reopen and when they actually do reopen.

Mr Smith asks if there are any discussions about the Easter holidays.

Mr Swinney says the Education Recovery Group met this morning to explore the approaches that may well be taken about the resumption of face-to-face learning.

The education secretary insists there is a huge amount of very good work being undertaken to deliver remote learning.

He is very heartened by the quality of work teachers are doing, he says.

The return of schools will be via phased learning, Mr Swinney adds.

"I would like to give two weeks' notice to everybody involved about a return to face-to-face learning."

Mr Swinney says today's campaign is a really important one to motivate the public to get the vaccine.

For more information visit nhsinform.scot/rollupyoursleeves, external or call 0800 030 8013.

The ‘Roll your sleeves up’ campaign will run from 21 January to the end of March 2021 on TV, radio, press, outdoor and digital channels.

Image source, Getty Images

A new campaign encouraging people to get vaccinated for Covid-19 as soon as they are eligible launches today.

The ‘Roll your sleeves up’ campaign will emphasise the importance of the vaccine and its safety, as well as the prioritisation list set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to ensure those most at risk are vaccinated first.

Vaccination will be offered to 4.5 million people in Scotland and is currently under way for residents of care homes, for older people and their carers, frontline health and social care workers, and those aged 80 years and over.

Local delivery is being led by NHS boards, who will contact those eligible to arrange their vaccination.

Those aged 70 and over and the clinically extremely vulnerable, including those on the shielding list, will receive their first vaccine dose by mid-February. Those aged over 65 will receive their first doses by the beginning of March, and vaccination of the wider adult population will start once the remainder of the JCVI priority groups are complete by early May.

For more information visit nhsinform.scot/rollupyoursleeves, external or call 0800 030 8013.

The ‘Roll your sleeves up’ campaign will run from 21 January to the end of March 2021 on TV, radio, press, outdoor and digital channels.

As of 21 January:

• 1,100 vaccination sites are operational across Scotland, including over 750 GP practices with a growing core of over 3,000 trained vaccinators.

• Over 90% of residents in care homes for older adults, 70% of staff in those care homes and around half of frontline NHS and social care staff have received their first dose.

Image source, AFP

Ross Govans from STV asks if any further consideration has been given to prioritise key workers such as teachers and police officers in the next stage of the vaccine roll-out.

Mr Govans suggests there are serious concerns about vaccine uptake in certain ethnic groups.

The deputy first minister says the Scottish government is following, very carefully, the advice of the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) about the prioritisation of who should get the vaccine first and in what order.

Mr Swinney says the JCVI is very clear that those at the most serious risk of illness or mortality must be prioritised.

He points out some teachers and police officers will be in the priority age groups to enable them to get the vaccine as soon as possible.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Scotland's Hayley Miller raises the issues of vaccines and asks whether supplies are reliable enough to ensure all over-80s are vaccinated before the early February target date.

John Swinney says the government is "very confident" that "providing the supplies come through to us" the mechanisms are in place to immunise the most elderly by the end of the first week in February.

However, he goes on to say that they would be happy to engage in further discussions to ensure supply of the vaccine is as "smooth as it possibly can be".

Image source, Scottish government

The deputy first minister says the lockdown restrictions continue to be vital.

Here's a reminder:

1. Scottish government: Coronavirus (COVID-19): what you can and cannot do, external

From Tuesday 5 January, mainland Scotland moved from Level 4 to a temporary lockdown, with new guidance to stay at home, external except for essential purposes. Some islands remain at Level 3, external.

On Saturday, five new rules came into force to tighten restrictions around certain areas including click and collect, takeaways and alcohol consumption outdoors.

On Monday, travel corridors were suspended after a new Covid-19 variant was identified in Brazil.

2. Postcode checker, external for Covid restrictions by protection level in areas of Scotland

3. NHS Inform, external

The latest from NHS Scotland and the Scottish government, including social distancing, face covering and stay at home advice.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Swinney says walk-in testing centres are a valuable part of the wider testing programme.

Three new walk-in test centres opened this week, the deputy first minister adds.

He says walk-in test centres have opened or will open in Paisley, Dunfermline and Glenrothes.

There are now 28 walk-in test centres in Scotland.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Swinney turns to support for child minders.

The deputy first minister tells the briefing the Scottish government is publishing today a series of actions that will support the child minding sector.

A total of £1m has been set aside to support child minders.

The scheme will allow child minders to apply for up to £1,000 each.

Mr Swinney says the latest estimate for the R number in Scotland is around one and has probably fallen in the last week.

The deputy first minister says the current lockdown restrictions are helping to stabilise the R number.

2,004 patients are in hospital with a confirmed case (up one), with 161 being treated in intensive care (up five).

89 additional deaths have been registered in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 5,468 deaths in Scotland by that measure.

The deputy first minister says that total is a reminder of the grief and heartache the virus continues to cause.

John Swinney confirms a further 1,636 people have tested positive for Covid-19. That is 7% % of the total number of tests carried out.

This takes the total number of positive cases in Scotland to 168,219.

By 08:30 this morning, 334,871 people had received their first dose of vaccine.

Image source, Getty Images

John Swinney will now lead today's coronavirus briefing.

The deputy first minister will be joined today by Scotland's national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch.