NICOLA Sturgeon would be waiting "some time yet" to get her coronavirus vaccine if she "had her way" and Scotland had joined the EU's inoculation scheme, Douglas Ross has said.
The Scottish Conservative leader said the First Minister should be thanking Boris Johnson for ignoring calls to join the programme.
He said there would be more than a million fewer doses of the vaccine in Scotland if the UK Government had taken the EU's approach.
EU vaccination rates have lagged behind the UK's as the bloc struggles with supply issues.
Scotland receives vaccines through the UK procurement scheme, though last summer SNP MPs criticised UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock's decision to opt out of the EU vaccine purchase scheme.
On Tuesday, the First Minister said she has an appointment for her first vaccine jab later this week.
Speaking to journalists, Mr Ross was asked if Ms Sturgeon should be thanking the Prime Minister for not joining the European vaccine procurement programme.
He said: "Absolutely. I think the SNP comments from a number of ministers at Holyrood and senior SNP politicians at Westminster at the time, on the approach that the UK Government took, have been shown to be false, hollow and completely wrong.
"We have benefited from the United Kingdom vaccination scheme, procuring and developing a number of vaccines to ensure there are so many doses available to protect not just the most vulnerable here in Scotland now, but over 2.6 million people across Scotland.
"It is our way out of this pandemic. The positive rollout of the vaccine scheme is allowing us to look forward, rather than look backward, and I think people across Scotland recognise we are only able to do that because we are part of a strong United Kingdom.
"And if Nicola Sturgeon had her way, she would take an independent Scotland back into the European Union, and there would be well over a million and a half fewer doses of the vaccine available here in Scotland.
"And it would be some time yet before Nicola Sturgeon was due to get her vaccine, rather than just a matter of hours."
An SNP spokesman said: "These remarks from Douglas Ross are utterly pathetic, but entirely in keeping with his petulant, puerile tone.
"Rather than playing petty politics with the vaccine rollout, the SNP will continue to support our hard-working NHS staff in their efforts to complete the vaccine programme in Scotland, which is helping to save lives."
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