New Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Mr Yousaf was given the job last week by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, taking over from the retiring Jeane Freeman.

He moved over from the justice portfolio.

Glasgow Times:

At the Caird Hall in Dundee, the Glasgow Pollok MSP received his first jab, as worries abound his constituency may be forced to stay in Level 3 as the rest of Scotland enjoys greater freedoms.

Speaking after being given the jab, the 36-year-old praised the work of staff in the health service, saying: “Thanks to everybody involved, the vaccination programme has gone brilliant and I feel very lucky and really privileged to have had the first dose.”

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Glasgow Times:

Mr Yousaf also went on to urge those given an appointment to receive their inoculation to attend.

“We have seen, I’m afraid to say, a slight increase in those who are not attending appointments, so my really strong message, my urging, my plea would be to please attend and if you can’t attend the appointment you’re given of course you do have details where you can switch appointments, rearrange and reschedule, which is really important to do,” he said.

On Sunday, the Health Secretary said there was scope to increase the rollout of the vaccination in Scotland, as a study by Public Health England (PHE) suggested the Pfizer and AstraZeneca inoculations were just as effective against the new B1617.2 Indian strain as they are against the Kent variant after the second dose.

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Glasgow Times:

Mr Yousaf told the BBC: “In my first few days as Health Secretary, I met with a number of people involved in the vaccine rollout – I’m actually due to get my vaccination first dose tomorrow myself – and having discussed it with them, I do believe there is a possibility of maximising our vaccine rollout, particularly the second doses, amongst those priority groups.

“So, while we’re doing extremely well with the vaccine rollout, I think there is room in the coming weeks to increase the number of vaccines that we’re administering per day and per week.”

Mr Yousaf’s own vaccination comes as those aged between 18 and 29 in Scotland have been able to register for their own vaccination, which he described as a “big milestone”.