ELDERLY people worried about braving icy conditions to get their Covid jag this weekend can reschedule their appointment, Nicola Sturgeon has said. 

The First Minister said the Government’s overarching advice remained for people to get vaccinated whenever possible to help the wider fight against the disease.

However she acknowledged some people would be worried about a slip or trip that could land them in hospital given the current blast of wintry weather.

She said that if they contacted their local health board they would get advice on how to attend safely or reschedule their appointment.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for “heavy and persistent” snow for the Highlands, Aberdeenshire, Tayside and Perthshire over the coming days.

It warned high ground could see 19 inches or 50cm of snow.

Other parts of Scotland are also braced for snow and ice over the weekend.

The Government is aiming to have all over-80s in the community vaccinated by Monday and all over-70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable by February 15.

At the daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon admitted she was concerned about the impact of the bad weather on people’s ability to get to GP surgeries and other vaccination centres.

She said: “Obviously we want people to get to vaccination centres.

"Clearly it [the weather warning] is concerning me and it made my heart sink a little bit, but as part of resilience planning there is gritting and snow clearing where necessary to keep the vaccine programme running as smoothly as possible."

Asked what advice she would give elderly people afraid of falling on their way to get their jag, Ms Sturgeon said health boards would try to be “as flexible as possible”. 

She said: “If you’re worried and you’ve got nobody else to turn to to help you get there, you should contact your local health board, who will either be able to give you some advice on how to get to your appointment or reschedule your appointment to a time that is better.”

Chief nursing officer Fiona McQueen said the most important thing was to “stay safe”.

She said: “If people don’t feel safe to leave their house to go for their vaccination, they will be having another appointment. So people should not be worried and fretting about making that choice.”