Scotland 'on track' to meet Covid vaccine target, says FM

The first minister said the majority of over 80s will have received the first dose by the start of next week

Scotland is "on track" to meet its vaccine targets, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

She said about 60% of people in the over-80s age group had now been offered the first dose of the vaccine.

And Ms Sturgeon predicted that the "vast majority" would get the jab by the start of next week - ahead of the 5 February target date.

Opposition parties have voiced concerns in recent weeks about the speed of the vaccination process.

Ms Sturgeon also said the Scottish government could start publishing details of coronavirus vaccine supplies next week - despite a previous disagreement with Westminster.

And she said the R number - which measures the spread of new infections - is expected to fall below one in Scotland.

She told the Scottish Parliament that a "hold-up in processing of data" meant the daily vaccine figures were not yet available.

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A total of 462,092 people had been given the first dose by Wednesday. For the over-80s target to be met, around 560,000 people need to have received the jab.

Scotland's target is to give the first dose of the vaccine to all over-80s by 5 February, and then to the over-70s and the clinically vulnerable by mid-February.

Nicola Sturgeon said talks were continuing with those on the frontline about how to improve pace of vaccine rollout

Delivering an update ahead of First Minister's Questions at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said all these targets were "on track"

Scottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson raised questions over the pace of the rollout, highlighting that on Sunday vaccine numbers were at their "lowest yet".

She asked whether GPs would be allowed to order vaccine supplies directly, rather than relying on weekly deliveries.

Ms Sturgeon said Ms Davidson has "mischaracterised" Scotland's position and that the vaccine programme was not being exclusively carried out through primary care.

She said: "What we are doing is building a vaccination programme that has pace absolutely, but a sustainable pace. We are using the supplies we have in a way that ensures we can meet and if possible exceed those targets.

"We will continue to discuss with those on frontline how we better streamline and gather the pace of this programme."

Vaccine supply figures

Earlier this month the Scottish government removed its vaccine rollout plan from its website after the UK government raised "commercial confidentiality concerns".

On Thursday, Ms Davidson claimed that about one million vaccines had been available for the Scottish government to use so far.

"We're six weeks into the vaccine delivery plan, we're three weeks into the community rollout, and throughout that time GP after GP has been expressing their frustration at supply issues," she said.

Ms Sturgeon insisted "way more than half" of the doses allocated to Scotland had already been administered, with the others set to be used in the coming days.

She said that when the Scottish government initially published the expected supply details, the UK government had demanded that this information was taken out of the public domain.

However, Ms Sturgeon she said politicians were "quite happy to brief these figures through spin to the media".

"I have said to my officials regardless of what they say, I think we will just go back to publishing the actual supply figures from next week, so that we all have transparency around that," she said.

Mass vaccinations have taken place at the NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow

The first minister also announced that in the last 24 hours, 1,201 new cases of Covid-19 were reported, representing 5.6%, of those tested.

A further 82 deaths were also recorded of people who had tested positive for the virus.

The number of people in hospital and in intensive care both decreased.

Ms Sturgeon said that while there was evidence that lockdown was working, case numbers remain high and the NHS remains under "severe pressure".

She reiterated that lockdown measures will continue until at least mid February and that the Scottish government was considering further measures, such as tougher travel restrictions.

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