Chamber and committees

Vaccinations are taking place differently across Scotland to reflect the needs of local communities. NHS Scotland Heath Boards are responsible for the local delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. As such, Health Boards are responsible for making decisions regarding local delivery in line with the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) guidance. This includes how to deliver vaccines to those with underlying health conditions.

Information is provided to healthcare practitioners via the Green Book, which holds the latest information on vaccines and vaccination. The Green Book states for cohort 6, the JCVI priority list is not exhaustive and there may be people, with a particular underlying health condition, who would benefit from earlier vaccination based on the clinical judgement of a clinician looking after the person on a case by case risk assessment.

Due to the flexibility of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s eligibility criteria for Cohort 6, it isn’t possible to provide a population size for Cohort 6.

As of March 2021, 162,881 people who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable have received their first dose.

Those aged 64 years or under and considered to be at risk in the 2020-21 Seasonal Flu Vaccination Programme, were 757,926. The Scottish Government encourages all those who are eligible for both the Covid-19 and the seasonal flu vaccines to accept their invitation when offered an appointment.

Vaccinations are taking place differently across Scotland to reflect the needs of local communities. NHS Scotland Heath Boards are responsible for the local delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. As such, Health Boards are responsible for making decisions regarding local delivery in line with the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) guidance. This includes how to identify people with underlying health conditions.

Information is provided to healthcare practitioners via the Green Book, which holds the latest information on vaccines and vaccination. The Green Book states for cohort 6, the JCVI priority list is not exhaustive and there may be people, with a particular underlying health condition, who would benefit from earlier vaccination based on the clinical judgement of a clinician looking after the person on a case by case risk assessment.

At present there are no plans to roll out mass antibody testing, pre or post vaccination, to people who are taking immunosuppressant medication for conditions such as Crohn’s Disease and Colitis, in order to confirm the efficacy of the vaccine. Although the immune correlates of protection are currently unknown, antibody tests may be offered for specific clinical reasons and this should be discussed with the relevant medical practitioners.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-35139 on 11 March 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government is clear that everyone who is resident in Scotland is entitled to access health care. This includes people who are seeking asylum. Our goal is to ensure all adults in Scotland are included in this Covid-19 vaccination programme. We will work with community leaders and frontline services to adapt our delivery and communication models to reach as many people as possible.

Public Health Scotland completed a national Health Inequalities Impact Assessment (HIIA) of the Flu and COVID-19 vaccination programmes in November 2020, with representation from NHS Board and Local Authority Equality Networks. This considered potential barriers and solutions for a range of groups, including refugee and asylum seekers. This has been built into the communications and delivery plans for the programme. The Scottish Government is working with NHS Boards to ensure they are supported to draw on the HIIA and related work.

The Scottish Government is also working with faith based, third sector and community groups to reach out to more people from deprived communities to increase the vaccine uptake.

We have put in place financial and practical support to ensure all parts of our community have the knowledge and confidence to participate in this vaccination programme and to remove any practical barriers.

The above mentioned steps will ensure that vaccine information is accessible and culturally appropriate – and delivered by trusted voices such as community leaders to all hard to reach groups including asylum seekers and refugees.

The Strategic Framework Business Fund offers grants only for businesses required to close by law, and grants for those businesses that remain open but are specifically required to modify their operations by law. Non-essential retail businesses are eligible for a temporary closure grant. Shops that are able to provide a permitted collection service under the Regulations are also eligible for a closure grant through the Strategic Framework Business Fund. The Regulations specify which businesses can provide a permitted collection service.

Guidance has been issued to boards on the correct process for managing waste. This was circulated to boards at the end of January.

A contingency plan should be put in place to manage the risk when less vaccine than expected is used during a clinic. Examples include maintaining a reserve list to ensure vaccine is not wasted (e.g. care home or front line health and social care staff or second doses). Ideally this should be from within the same cohort however the JCVI has also indicated that there should be some flexibility in including other cohorts concurrently. If the remainder of the vaccine is in un-punctured vials, which are still in the fridge, consider whether subsequent orders can be reduced. Sites should be aware of local arrangements with other immunisation services who would be able to utilise the spare vaccine within short notice.

While at this stage there is little known with regard to projected uptake and attendance rates, scheduling teams and planners should liaise to monitor this closely in order to ensure the pharmacy is supplying an optimal number doses and maximising the use of the supply chain.

A copy of the guidance at present is not online, but is currently being prepared for publication and will be available at : Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

A copy of the guidance at present is not online, but is currently being prepared for publication and will be available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The guidance at present has been shared widely across programme and boards.

This information is outlined in the published 'COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan 2021’: Coronavirus (COVID-19): vaccine deployment plan 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Availability of vaccine supply is a key factor in determining the size of the vaccination workforce deployed at any given time and we are in ongoing dialogue with Health Boards regarding workforce requirements as the programme progresses.

This information is outlined in the published 'COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan 2021’: Coronavirus (COVID-19): vaccine deployment plan 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We are working to get vaccines to everyone as quickly as we can, and hope to have vaccinated all those on the JCVI prioritisation list by the end of spring 2021, but these assumptions on delivery are predicated on available supply. Should the pace of vaccine approvals increase, or the volume of vaccine being delivered increase, we will move swiftly and flexibly to deploy them.

Overall a total of 1,759,750 people have received the first dose of the COVID vaccination and 115,930 have received their second dose, as of 7 March 2021.