Rachael Hamilton MSP and John Lamont MP have welcomed the announcement that an additional 81 military personnel will be deployed in Scotland to support the COVID vaccination roll-out.
It follows a letter from the Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack MP, offering additional support to the Scottish Government, following the slow progress of the vaccine rollout in Scotland.
A further 57 military personnel will be deployed to assist health boards across Scotland, in addition to the 98 members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards who are already supporting the vaccine programme.
The medics and management staff will make up a Vaccine Quick Reaction Force, which will see 5 teams of 10 able to deploy across Scotland at short notice, in order to assist NHS staff in delivering the vaccines.
Teams will start deploying from tomorrow with up to 24 logistic support staff, mostly from the 3rd Battalion, The Rifles, assisting health boards with the running of vaccination centres in the Borders, Grampian, Dumfries and Galloway and the Lothians.
Both parliamentarians have thanked NHS staff and volunteers currently working to rollout out the vaccines, and welcome the intervention from the Secretary of State for Scotland, shows the importance of the United Kingdom in pooling and sharing resources at a time of crisis.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
“The announcement is very much welcomed, and additional armed forces personnel working alongside NHS staff will help boost the rollout of the vaccine further.
“The offer of help went out from the Scottish Secretary in a letter yesterday, and I am glad the action has been taken to bolster efforts to get the jab to as many people as possible.
“I want to thank all NHS staff, volunteers and the armed forces for their hard work in administering the vaccines to as many people as possible safely and quickly.
“Sunday saw the lowest daily figure for Covid vaccinations, and there is simply not time for the SNP Government to waste.
“The route out of this pandemic is reliant on a swift and efficient vaccination rollout”.
John Lamont MP said:
“The Armed Forces have been a crucial part of protecting against Covid-19. They have been delivering testing centres across Scotland, evacuating patients by air to more suitable locations, and helping set up vaccination centres.
“We need to be utilising every resource available to help speed up vaccinations.
“It is very welcome they will now be assisting our marvellous and dedicated NHS staff here in the Borders to run vaccination centres.
“Vaccines have provided us all with a sense of hope that this dreadful virus may one day be a thing of the past. It is absolutely vital that this is rolled out to the vulnerable population as quickly as possible.”
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:
“The British Armed Forces are carrying out vital work to support the rollout of vaccines across Scotland.
“Nearly 100 military personnel are already setting up 80 Scottish vaccine centres, and from this week an additional 57 will also be helping to get needles into arms.
“More are on standby to help with testing, which is still so important. I would like to thank all of our fantastic military personnel for their great work in helping fight the pandemic, right across the UK.
“The military has been involved in supporting Scotland’s response to the COVID pandemic since March 2020, providing planners, logistics specialists and aircraft medical evacuation capability, as well as the delivery of a Mobile Testing Unit service throughout the summer of 2020.
“Across the UK there is over 5,200 personnel committed to winter and COVID-19 operations are supporting 80 different tasks in the UK and abroad – this includes the vaccine rollout, NHS support and community testing across the UK”.
