The Scottish Government has been asked to speed up the vaccine rollout in Scotland after figures show it lagging the rest of the United Kingdom.
Figures released on 1st February show the Scottish Government is failing to keep up with other UK nations per head of population:
England 14.36% of the population had received first dose
Wales 13.2%
Northern Ireland 11.71%
Scotland 10.54%
Figures also slumped to their lowest level since daily publication of the figures started, with only 9,628 receiving a vaccine on Sunday.
The Scottish Health Secretary had previously said that 1 million people would be vaccinated by the end of January. The actual figure was only 575,000.
The Scottish Government had previously said that they were prioritising care homes making their rollout slower. However, figures show Scotland and England have reached almost full rollout in care homes at the same time.
John Lamont MP said:
“GPs and NHS staff have been saying they need more support for weeks to help them rollout the vaccine as quickly as possible. They are doing a great job of getting vaccines into arms, but the Scottish Government needs to give them more support.
“Here in the Borders there has been an effective rollout when it comes to care homes and NHS staff, but the picture across Scotland paints a very different picture.
“If the Scottish Government doesn't get their house in order we will be even further behind the other nations of the UK.
“Hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses are available to the Scottish Government, ready for overnight delivery. All we need is the SNP to get their act together.”
“The vaccine rollout should be the primary focus of every government at the moment. Vaccines can and will save lives. Let’s support the NHS to deliver them as quickly as possible.”
