SCOTS could be offered coronavirus vaccinations 24/7 when the rollout is ready for younger age groups, Nicola Sturgeon has suggested.
The First Minister confirmed that a total of 175,942 people have been given their first dose of the Covid-19 jag as of Monday.
Ms Sturgeon warned the supplies of vaccinations were still “relatively limited” - with the Scottish Government focusing on distributing the jags to care home residents and those aged over 80.
The First Minister stressed that the current groups of the population being prioritised did “not lend themselves of out-of-hours vaccination”.
She added: “We will look at anything and everything that allows us to get this vaccination programme done as quickly as possible.”
Ms Sturgeon was asked whether vaccination clinics in Scotland could be run around the clock to speed up the delivery.
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She said: “Once we get into the general population, yes, if that is going to help us get through them faster then we will look at that.”
But the First Minister said any 24/7 rollout of the vaccine is a complex logistical programme, warning that “you can’t have the same people working right round the clock”.
She added: “This is the kind of work and thinking and modelling … that is ongoing all the time”.
The First Minister said: “At the moment, because of the relatively limited nature of supplies, although that is growing all the time, and the population groups, we have been focusing on care homes.
“But once we get into the younger age groups, I think the ways in which, the times at which, the settings in which we vaccinate people will become potentially much more flexible.
“I don’t rule anything out. We want to get through this programme as quickly as possible, we want everybody in the adult population to have this vaccine as quickly as possible.”
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Scotland’s national clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, said that so far, the vaccine rollout has been “better than I expected it to go”, adding that it is “going quite smoothly”.
Professor Leitch added: The fact that we have been able to vaccinate 80 per cent of our care home residents in four weeks is astonishing.”
And he said that vaccination numbers would “speed up” now it has been rolled out to GP practices, with the focus now on getting the injection to over-80s living at home.
The First Minister stressed that “it is in our interests to get it speeded up as far as practical”.
She added: “The sooner we get the whole population vaccinated the sooner we get back to a greater degree of normality and can start to put this virus behind us.”
But the Tories said with about 12,500 people being vaccinated each day, the Scottish Government would miss its target of giving the injection to 560,000 by the end of January.
Health spokesman Donald Cameron said: “These figures confirm that the SNP are not moving fast enough and lagging behind their own targets.
“At the current speed, they risk falling short of expectations. The vaccine is our key weapon against this virus, so we will continue to push the government to accelerate their plans and focus on increasing the pace.”
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