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Is Scotland 'lagging behind' on vaccinating the population? Is Scotland 'picking up pace' on vaccinations?
(3 days later)
The latest breakdown of Scotland's vaccination figures shows 13% of the 80-and-over age group had received their first dose by last weekend. The UK has embarked on the most ambitious public health campaign in NHS history - vaccinating tens of millions of adults against the potentially deadly Covid-19 virus.
The figure for England, published on Thursday, reported that 56.3% of the 80 and over age group had been vaccinated. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all set targets to immunise the most at risk first. The common pledge is that by mid-February, all those aged 70 and over will have been offered the first of two injections.
The Scottish government maintains it has been slower because it had "very deliberately" concentrated on vaccinating care home residents first, which is "more time consuming and labour intensive". So, with just one week of January left, what do we know about the vaccine rollout?
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told parliament on Wednesday that this was designed to target the most vulnerable and was in line with the priority list compiled by the JCVI, which advises on vaccine rollout across the UK. The latest Scottish Covid vaccination figures show 46% of people aged 80 and over have received their first dose. And the most recently published figure for England reports that 56.3% of the over-80s group have been vaccinated. However, those two percentages do not paint the most up-to-date picture.
She said Scotland had given the first dose of the vaccine to about 90% of care home residents. In England 63% of care home residents have been vaccinated, according to health secretary Matt Hancock. While Scotland's numbers show a daily breakdown on who has had the jab, the English figures come from a weekly report.
The daily figures for Thursday show that England has vaccinated 9.7% of the total adult population with the first dose and Scotland has so far reached 7.5%. This make it difficult to compare between the four UK nations, and explains why politicians often cite vaccine numbers that don't match the most recently published data.
At First Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Conservative MSP Ruth Davidson accused Ms Sturgeon of not explaining why Scotland's vaccine programme was "lagging behind" and why doses were not "reaching GPs quickly enough". When will I be vaccinated against Covid?
Ms Sturgeon said England's daily rate of increase in vaccinations was now slowing as they tried to catch up on elderly care home residents. Covid in Scotland: Where are the latest cases?
She said Scotland's rate of vaccinations was speeding up considerably. For example, UK government Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Monday's teatime briefing that 78.7% of over-80s had received a first vaccine.
"We are all grappling with same issues and we are all working to the same targets," Ms Sturgeon said. This is much higher than the 56.3% "official" published figure from NHS England.
The latest Public Health Scotland figures show that by Sunday 17 January 35,383 of the 270,000 people aged 80 and above had been given their first dose of the vaccine. Mr Hancock said that the UK had a better supply of the vaccines than "nearly every other country in the world" and it was a "magnificent feat" by the NHS that three quarters of all over 80s had been vaccinated. He added that "three-quarters of care homes" in England had been covered in the rollout. Mr Hancock has lauded the programme so far but he admitted that the "rate-limiting factor is supply, and supply is tight".
That means that about 80,000 people a week will need to be vaccinated over the next three weeks to meet the 5 February target. Public Health Scotland also publishes a weekly report with a full vaccination breakdown and from Monday 25 January it is also highlighting the daily statistics about the priority vaccination groups.
'Absolutely confident in meeting target'
On Monday, Ms Sturgeon said 95% of care home residents and 95% of frontline care workers had received the first of their two jabs. However, she acknowledged the lower percentage of over-80s in the community being vaccinated.
She explained: "I have set out many times why in focusing on care homes first we are at a slightly lower proportion of over-80s but that is picking up pace now, and I am absolutely confident in meeting the targets that we have set.
"So, yes I am confident and assured around the planning of this but I am not complacent about it - we continue to make sure that we are, on a daily basis, taking the decisions and supporting the wider service to get this programme administered as quickly as possible.
"This is the most important thing the government is doing at the moment."
When Scotland's vaccination programme got under way on Monday, 14 December it "very deliberately" set out to target care homes, care home workers and NHS staff.
The policy was designed to focus on the most vulnerable and was in line with the priority list compiled by the JCVI, which advises on vaccine rollout across the UK.
According to the latest figures, about 116,000 of 270,000 people in the over-80s group have been given their first dose of the vaccine.
This means that about 77,000 people a week will need to be vaccinated over the next two weeks to meet the 5 February target.
Another 474,000 people between 70 and 80 will need to be vaccinated by a week later.Another 474,000 people between 70 and 80 will need to be vaccinated by a week later.
What about the over-80s? Daily figures for Monday 25 January also show that England has vaccinated 12.9% of the total adult population with the first dose and Scotland has so far reached 9.4%.
The daily figures for vaccination do not include a breakdown of who has been vaccinated. Scotland and England now provide weekly statistics which give more detail. How many over-80s have been reached?
Daily vaccination figures do not include a breakdown of the over-80s group across all UK nations. England provides these detailed statistics only in a weekly report.
The latest figures show:The latest figures show:
Scotland - 80 and over - 35,383 (13.1% of the age group) had received their first dose by Sunday 17 January Scotland - 80 and over - 115,882 (46% of the age group) had received their first dose by Monday 25 January
England - 80 and over - 1,685,937 (56.3% of the age group) had received their first dose by Sunday 17 JanuaryEngland - 80 and over - 1,685,937 (56.3% of the age group) had received their first dose by Sunday 17 January
Northern Ireland - 80 and over - 36,419 (44.6% of the age group) received by their first dose by Wednesday 20 January Northern Ireland - 80 and over - 39,254 (55% of the age group) received by their first dose by Thursday 21 January
Wales - 80 and over - 23.9% of the age group received by their first dose by Wednesday 20 January Wales - 80 and over - 88,005 (48.1% of the age group) received by their first dose by Monday 25 January
On Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon said the community vaccination programme in Scotland was "ramping up". Nicola Sturgeon has said Scotland is on track for all over-80s to have been offered the first dose by the end of the first week in February.
She estimated that about 20% of people aged 80-plus had now had the first dose. Who else has been vaccinated?
Ms Sturgeon said Scotland was on track for all over-80s to have been offered the first dose by the end of the first week in February.
Who has been vaccinated?
In Scotland people under 50 account for almost half of vaccinations administered up to Sunday 17 January (46.6%).In Scotland people under 50 account for almost half of vaccinations administered up to Sunday 17 January (46.6%).
A further breakdown of the Scotland figures shows that the bulk of the vaccinations were health care workers - 137,005 - and care home staff - 31,490. Three-quarters of those vaccinated were are female, perhaps reflecting the make-up of the staff in the NHS and care homes.
Ms Sturgeon said more than 70% of all frontline health and care workers had received the first dose. As of Monday 25 January, 218,985 vaccinations have gone to health care workers and 36,108 to care home staff.
Three-quarters of those vaccinated so far are female, perhaps reflecting the make-up of the staff in the NHS and care homes. What other targets are there?
What are the targets? When the most at risk are vaccinated the immunisation programme will move to younger members of society. The Scottish government's vaccine deployment plan dates include:
Both the UK and Scottish governments have pledged to have offered a first dose of the vaccine to all the first four JCVI groups by mid-February.
That is:
residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
all those 75 years of age and over
all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
In Scotland, groups one and two are due a vaccine by the start of February, with groups three and four by the middle of the month. That is about 1.1 million people.
The Scottish government will need to average about 200,000 vaccinations a week to reach that target. The latest figure show 334,871 first dose vaccinations have been given in Scotland since 8 December (7.5% of the adult population).
Wales has also given the first dose to 7.5% of the adult population. In England the figure is 9.7% and Northern Ireland is 9.9%.
In Scotland about 25,000 people are being vaccinated per day and the figure is "scaling up".
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman pledged: "We will have the workforce and the infrastructure to vaccinate 400,000 people each week by the end of February."
Other targets in the Scottish government's vaccine deployment plan include:
By early March:By early March:
All those over 65 All those over 65 will have had a first dose
By early May:By early May:
all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortalityall individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
all those 50 years of age and over.all those 50 years of age and over.