SCOTTISH Labour has been accused of an “attack on frontline workers” by an MSP who is also a vaccinator after calling for the jags to be rolled out 24/7.
The party’s health spokesperson, Monica Lennon, put forward an amendment at a debate on prioritising the pandemic over an independence referendum – calling for round the clock vaccinations to be rolled out immediately.
But an SNP MSP, who is also administering the jag, has criticised the calls, raising concerns that already-stretched staff cannot be asked to work longer hours.
Speaking in the debate, Ms Lennon warned that “We cannot be too slow on the vaccine rollout”.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Pfizer vaccine doses binned at Ayrshire hospital
She added: “The priority for all of us needs to be getting the vaccine into people’s arms.
“We are on track to miss the February targets by over a quarter of a million people.”
Ms Lennon also called for minister to “commit to simplifying the distribution process” for vaccines amid concerns raised by GPs.
She added: “We have people willing and ready to vaccinate, as well as people willing and ready to be vaccinated – so we need to pick up the pace so the vaccine wins the race against the virus.”
Ms Lennon appealed for “24/7 access to vaccinations as soon as possible”, pointing to a commitment to trial a round the clock service – warning “there’s an urgent need for speed here, not more pilot schemes”.
But Emma Harper, who returned to the frontline as a nurse at the start of the pandemic, has hit out at the call from Ms Lennon.
The SNP MSP said the call for 24/7 vaccinations “might be very irresponsible and actually dangerous”.
She said: “The vaccination team I have worked with are about 50 per cent made up of nurses, physios, OTs and podiatrists who are already working full time in NHS jobs.
“The other 50 per cent of the team is retired nurses and midwives who have come out of retirement to help. Everyone is putting in long hours, extra shifts and weekend shifts and now Monica Lennon wants them to stay up all night long.”
Ms Harper added: “The speed-up language is an attack on frontline workers, frontline vaccinators and it’s not helping.
“The professional team that I belong to are competent and safely vaccinating at the pace required.
“I have to ask, where will the staff come from? Need I remind the chamber that because of Brexit, the UK has lost thousands of EU nurses and because of the UK’s anti-immigration immigration policy, it’s very difficult to attract nurses to move to Scotland.
“How will a single parent go to a vaccine appointment at 3am and how many women will want to travel alone in the middle of the night to get a vaccine."
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