Covid vaccine: Three cheers to the small army of people working to immunise us against this deadly virus – Angus Robertson

Ninety-year-old Annie Innes was immunised at Abercorn House in Hamilton and will soon be joined by the most vulnerable care home residents who are at the highest risk of severe disease and deaths from coronavirus. A second injection, which is required, will be administered in the new year.

More than 65,000 doses have been delivered to vaccination centres across Scotland, in a logistical exercise that is complicated by the need to store the vaccine at minus 70 degrees Celsius.

More than 50,000 adults live in care homes across Scotland, including my father who receives excellent care at Erskine Veterans Home in Edinburgh.

Rapid testing has also begun at a number of care homes and their rollout has begun for the whole of the country. This all means that visits can begin to return to normal for many residents and families.

Next on the vaccine list will be everyone aged 80 and over as well as frontline health and social care workers, followed by people aged 75 and over, then those aged 70 and over together with the clinically extremely vulnerable.

After those people have been vaccinated, it will be the 65 and older age group and then people between 16-64 who have underlying health conditions.

None of this would be possible without a small army of vaccinators who will give tens of thousand of immunisation injections over the next months. Many thanks to you all.

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