Covid in Scotland: Ways to 'accelerate' vaccine plans being examined
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Health and social care staff have been vaccinated at the NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow
The Scottish government is "looking at all sorts of ways" to accelerate its Covid-19 vaccine programme, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The government is considering a pilot of 24/7 vaccine arrangements, chiefly aimed at younger age groups.
A total of 46% of over-80s in Scotland have now had a first dose, along with 95% of older care home residents.
Ms Sturgeon said the programme was "picking up pace" and "on track" to reach all over-70s by mid-February.
She said the government was "looking at all options" to get the vaccine out to people as quickly as possible.
The government aims to have the top priority groups - including care home residents and staff, frontline health workers and all those aged over 80 - given a first dose by the end of the first week in February.
From Monday, letters are being sent out to people aged 70 to 79 inviting them to receive their first doses. Ms Sturgeon says the programme is "on track" to having this group complete by the middle of February.
There has been some criticism of the speed of the rollout in Scotland, with a greater proportion of over-80s having already received a jab in England.
However Ms Sturgeon said the programme was "making good progress" and said any differences with the rest of the UK were because of an early focus on vaccinating older care home residents - 95% of whom have now had their first dose.
She said she was "absolutely confident" that the government would hit its targets.
And the first minister said consideration was being given to how to speed up the programme further, saying her government is "looking at all sorts of ways to accelerate things".
She said: "We are looking at piloting 24/7 arrangements so that when we get into wider groups of the population, people will have choices about the time they turn up for vaccines.
"There's been debate about whether people will want to turn up in the middle of the night to get vaccinated - some will and some won't. If that sort of thing is going to add to what we are able to do, it is likely to have the greatest impact when you get down into the relatively younger age groups.
"If we think it is appropriate there may be some things we try just to see if they would work, and if they don't we won't continue with them.
"We are looking at all of these options to make sure that as the supply increases, we can get it to people as quickly as possible."
Hospital admissions 'tailing off'
Ms Sturgeon said there was "some early evidence" that lockdown was reducing the number of new Covid-19 cases, although she said the government would take a "cautious" approach to restrictions - which are currently due to run into mid-February at the earliest.
She also voiced some "cautious grounds for optimism" that admissions to hospital are starting to "tail off slightly", although she warned that pressure on the NHS would remain "acute" for some time.
Opposition leaders called for the vaccine programme to be accelerated and for support to be targeted at key workers.
A mass vaccination centre is being set up at the P&J Live Arena in Aberdeen
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: "People are talking about a 24/7 approach here in Scotland - I think based on the figures so far we need to focus just on a seven day approach, because we are not vaccinating people quickly enough.
"We are not making the progress we need to, to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible."
Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack said the vaccine programme "needs to be accelerated as fast as possible"
She said: "We are all behind this vaccine being rolled out - but it has to be as soon as possible, because people are getting nervous.
"Whether it's police staff, construction staff, care staff who have been worried for weeks - the vaccine has got to be the top priority, along with the test and trace so we can monitor the impact on the ground and get targeted support to people."
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said Scotland was "slipping further and further behind England" and added: "The first minister's excuses on the rollout of the vaccine are wearing very thin."
