Covid in Scotland: One million people receive vaccine
- Published
John Loch was among those getting their first jab at the NHS Louisa Jordan
More than one million people have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine in Scotland.
The Scottish government said the milestone was reached on Wednesday and the vaccination programme was now moving "at pace".
Ministers say they are on track to inoculate everyone in the top priority groups - including everyone aged over 70 - by 15 February
They had been criticised for a sluggish start to the vaccine drive.
But opposition parties have welcomed the increased pace of the vaccine rollout in the last week.
The milestone means more than a fifth (22%) of the 4.5m people who will be offered the jab have received it.
Retired businessman John Loch was among those being immunised at the NHS Louisa Jordan in Glasgow as the landmark figure was reached.
The 69-year-old from Bearsden received his first dose at the hospital which was set up at the Scottish Exhibition Centre.
"I am delighted to have received my vaccine, particularly on the day Scotland reached a million doses. It is exciting to be a part of this milestone moment.
"I would like to thank all the staff at the Louisa Jordan for being so reassuring and making the process so simple and straightforward."
The speed of the rollout began increasing significantly following the opening of mass vaccination sites at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, P&J Live in Aberdeen and other large venues across the country.
On Monday more than 61,000 people were vaccinated - the highest daily figure so far and one that was described by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as a "pretty whopping increase".
The figure reported on Wednesday dipped slightly to 57,447, but that is likely to be partly because of the severe weather in some parts of the country.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman acknowledged the "important milestone" but warned about an expected "dip in supplies" towards the end of February.
"Scotland's Covid-19 vaccination programme is delivering ahead of our expectations," she said.
"Our aim is to vaccinate as many people as possible with both their first and second doses as quickly as possible, but the speed at which we can do this depends on supply and we expect a dip in supplies UK-wide towards the end of this month.
"We hope to see a significant drop in the disease due to the vaccination programme, however this will take a number of months to evaluate fully.
"In the shorter term, we are monitoring the uptake rate but we also have a comprehensive surveillance system in place to monitor the outcome of vaccine efficacy and disease reduction."
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said it was "great news" that the pace of the vaccine rollout had picked up.
"I hope we can soon catch up with the rest of the UK," he tweeted. , external
"Incredible to see the hard work of NHS staff and our armed forces paying off. A real Scottish and UK success story."
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Meanwhile the National Records of Scotland (NRS) said 374 people died with coronavirus in the week to 7 February, a decrease of 70 on the previous week.
It takes the overall death toll to 8,726.
Eight weeks after the first care home residents were vaccinated, the statistics also show that Covid deaths in care home have fallen for the third week in a row.
A total of 68 died with Covid in care homes last week - about 18% of all Covid deaths - compared to 98 the previous week (22% of the total).
