Blue letters 'best way' to run Scotland's vaccine rollout

The blue envelope is how NHS Scotland is sending out appointments for vaccination

Scotland's blue envelope appointment system is still the best way to run the Covid vaccine rollout, according to the chief medical officer.

Dr Gregor Smith said sending invites by post allowed Scotland to manage the supply of appointments.

While England is now asking 44-year-olds to book their own vaccination appointment, Scotland will not be changing its system.

He also said speed of the rollout was "entirely dependent" on vaccine supply.

Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Dr Smith insisted that Scotland's system was effective.

• Covid vaccine programme rolled out to over-45s

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Blue envelopes started to be sent to 45 to 49-year-olds from 13 April, but some in the over-50s age bracket have not yet been invited.

On Monday, NHS England extended its vaccination service to about another 500,000 people by opening it up to 44-year-olds.

Two-thirds of 45 to 49-year-olds have now received their first dose. Health bosses said they would set out when 40 to 43-year-olds can book appointments "in the coming days" as supply allows.

Northern Ireland is opening its vaccination programme to people aged 35 to 39, while Wales has been asking over-40s to book appointments.

Public information campaigns are now aimed at 18-49 year-olds

Dr Smith said the proportion of people in vaccination age groups were in line across the UK nations.

"It is just the different countries have different methods of inviting people to appointments," he added.

"The way we are appointing people is that we are inviting people to come forward, just so we can make sure that the supplies in each of the centres match the demand at each point in time.

"By doing this we feel it is the best way of managing the supply of appointments to people to make sure it is as stable as possible."

In Scotland 2,764,607 people have received the first dose of the Covid vaccination and 993,180 have received their second dose.

The target for all over 50s to receive their first dose was 15 April, but the latest Scottish government figures show 91% of 50 to 54-year-olds and almost 98% of 55 to 59-year-olds have been given the jab.

The chief medical officer said there was no backlog and the vaccination programme was proceeding as expected.

Dr Smith said the rollout depended on supplies of the vaccine and that stock priority was reserved for second doses.

"The majority of the doses given over the past week have been second doses, to make sure that we are completing the second doses as close to 12 weeks as is possible," he added.

"That is absolutely determined by the supply of the vaccine we have coming into the country.

"What I would expect to see is that as supply increases again over the coming weeks we are gradually increasing those first doses again, until we get to the stage where first doses are exceeding the second doses."

The chief medical officer said that anyone over 50 who was still waiting for their appointment letter should contact the vaccination helpline to ensure their contact details are up to date.

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