FM apologises over booster appointment 'glitches'
- Published
People can now have their booster three months after receiving their second vaccine jab
Problems which saw some people turned away from vaccine booster appointments in Scotland have been resolved, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Advice to clinics has changed so that people can get a booster jab three months after their second dose, rather than having to wait six months.
She said a small number of people were refused a jab after "glitches in the system" while protocols were updated.
She apologised to those who were turned away after making an appointment.
The Conservatives said communication about the changes had been a "mess".
On Monday, the UK's vaccine authorities recommended that the gap between a second dose and a booster should be halved to three months, with all over-18s to be offered a third jab in response to concerns about the new Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Three new Scottish cases of the variant were reported on Wednesday, two in NHS Lanarkshire and one in the Greater Glasgow area, bringing the total in Scotland to 13.
The Scottish government then advised people to come forward and book appointments, but there were reports on Wednesday of some being turned away because six months had not elapsed.
On Thursday, Ms Sturgeon said she was "very sorry" for this, but said the issue was being resolved.
She said: "When advice changes, because this is a clinical procedure there is a process of updating the protocols and materials to make sure everything is being done in line with protocol.
"In the normal course of events that would take around a week, that has happened now already and we have taken steps to make sure that information has been cascaded down to vaccine clinics everywhere across Scotland.
"Let me stress it was a small number of people, and they can go onto the website and rebook now if they are over that three month period."
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said there were still reports on Thursday of people being turned away from clinics despite having been allowed to book an appointment.
He said as of midday, five health boards were implementing the new guidance, five were saying it would happen "soon", and that four others were yet to provide an update.
He said the communication around the change had been "a mess", adding: "We know the proper procedures hadn't been put in place, so people ended up being turned away.
"Surely this all should have been sorted before the first minister told people to bring forward their appointments."
'It is inconvenient to be messed about'
One eligible vaccine candidate Mrs Bryson, from Linlithgow, told BBC Scotland she was turned away from her appointment in Bathgate.
The 43-year-old booked an appointment for Thursday, based on Scottish government guidance she saw in the media on Wednesday.
"When I arrived I was told by the receptionist 'you have not reached 24 weeks yet, you can't receive it today'," she said.
"When I asked if she had seen the news, she said, 'Yes, but we haven't been advised that we can give it you yet'. She told me I had to go away and rebook."
Mrs Bryson said the online booking system would not give her another appointment. When she phoned NHS Inform she was told they could not offer a new appointment until after the six-month period.
"It is massively inconvenient to be messed about like this," she added. "I just wanted to get the booster because I think it's the right thing to do."
Ms Sturgeon said that "a minority of people" had experienced issues amid the "massive" vaccination programme.
She said: "The vaccine programme continues to go well. As I have said candidly on a number of occasions, particularly when advice changes very quickly there may be glitches in the system like we saw yesterday.
"We try to avoid that happening, but when it does we take steps to rectify that as quickly as possible."
Ten cases of the new Omicron variant have been detected in Scotland so far, with concern that it may be spreading in the community already.
Nine of these have been linked to a single private event on 20 November.
As well as expanding the vaccine programme, the government has recommended that people take a lateral flow test before socialising or going out Christmas shopping.
Inevitably there are going to be some hiccups because the government is trying to scale this up so quickly.
They need to find more staff, they probably need to find more venues, they would like to extend it to more drop-ins, and some health boards are doing that.
But talking to people involved in running this programme, one of the difficulties they are having with the national booking system is that they are trying to get through the most vulnerable groups first - the over-60s and 50s who have reached that six-month mark.
But legitimately people in their 40s can now go on and make an appointment because they have reduced the gap between second and third doses to 12 weeks.
It is proving very difficult for staff to try to get through the priority groups, as per the JCVI recommendations, but also to have enough capacity for the younger groups who are also now eligible for their booster.
What's the situation in different areas?
Health boards in Tayside, Grampian, Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway and the Western Isles said they are now offering booster jabs for eligible groups 12 weeks after their second dose, while NHS Forth Valley planned to implement the changes later on Thursday.
NHS Borders expect to implement the updated guidance "very shortly" but are asking people to only book an appointment or attend a drop-in clinic if it is at least 24 weeks after their second dose.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said they are implementing it "as soon as possible" and have started to do so. They apologised to anyone who booked an appointment but not able to receive a jag. They have urging those people to rebook.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran also apologised for the "small number" of people who were turned away from vaccine centres, again urging them to rebook.
NHS Lanarkshire said work was "being progressed urgently" to put the necessary guidance in place to implement the changes. NHS Fife said it "urgently approved" the changes on Thursday to allow staff to legally administer jags 12 weeks after the second dose from Friday.
NHS Highland has yet to confirm its own situation. Its website said the booking portal was still the recommended way to organise an appointment for under 50s.
