SCOTLAND is still on track to offer a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to all adults by the end of July despite fears over supplies of the jag.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf stressed the target will still be hit by the end of next month but warned the programme “can’t go even faster” to combat the spread of the Delta variant with issues over supply of the Pfizer vaccine.
Last week, Mr Yousaf warned that reduced supplies of the Pfizer vaccine could restrict the rollout in Scotland.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, the Health Secretary stressed that “in any vaccination rollout programme, one of the limiting factors is vaccine supply”.
He added: “To be very, very clear, we have enough supply to complete our programme.
“Our next milestone will be the end of next month to complete all first doses for the adult population and we are on schedule to do that.
"But clearly, if we have more supply, we can go faster – we can do more drop-in clinics for example.”
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf warns Delta variant 'bump in the road' to Scotland's Covid exit
Amid fears supplies of the Pfizer vaccination are to be “tight” over the coming weeks, Mr Yousaf wrote to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock for reassurance that supplies of the Pfizer jag can be increased.
Mr Yousaf said he is pleased by the response from the UK Government.
He said: “I spoke to Matt Hancock about this at the tail end of last week and had some message exchange also with UK Government minister for vaccines Nadhim Zahawi. Both were very positive.
“I think all four nations are in the same place around that limit of supply of Pfizer.
READ MORE: Gordon Brown: G7 has committed 'unforgivable moral failure' over vaccines
“I’m reassured by what Matt Hancock said in terms of the conversations they are having with Pfizer and the work the vaccine taskforce is doing.”
Mr Yousaf stressed the importance of increasing supplies of vaccine if possible.
He said: “We will continue to work together collaboratively to see what we can do to source more supply. If we don’t get more supply, then we can’t go even faster, as we’d like to do.
“This is a race, as we know –one lane the virus is in, the other lane the vaccine. We want to make sure the vaccine is absolutely ahead of the virus.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel