COVID-19 vaccination programme to begin from Tuesday

The first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Scotland will be administered from next week, the First Minister has confirmed this afternoon.

Nicola Sturgeon has provided assurances that rural and island communities such as Orkney won’t be overlooked in the “biggest logistical peacetime challenge this nation has ever taken”.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine — which offers up to 95 per cent protection against COVID-19 — will be rolled out from Tuesday.

The vaccine must be stored at -70 degrees celsius, leading to questions on the infrastructure in place in health boards across the country in their ability to store the doses.

Chief medical officer Gregor Smith said all hospital sites across every board have been supplied with ultra low temperature freezers.

“So every health board has the ability to store the vaccine and will be able to provide it to their local populations,” said Mr Smith.

“And my expectation is that, barring any logistical hitches, we will be able to deploy those vaccines next week at the same time.”

Ms Sturgeon said: “It is without a shadow of doubt the best news that we’ve heard since this pandemic started all those months ago.

“Today is genuinely a good day. We’re not at the end of this yet and, of course, we cannot and must not let up on our efforts to control it.

“But today does feel like it may well be the beginning of the end of this horrible experience.”

This is unlikely to be only vaccine to be rolled out with a number of others waiting in the wings for approval.

Everyone receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will need to take two doses 21-28 days apart.

The first doses will go to those carrying out the vaccination programme, followed by health and social care workers, care home residents and those over 80.