Covid-19 vaccine deployment plan and timelines revealed

The Scottish Government has revealed its Covid-19 vaccine deployment plan.

The document, published on Wednesday night, details how the government proposes to roll out vaccinations across Scotland to 4.5 million people.

Those over the age of 18, as well as 16 and 17-year-olds who are frontline health and social care workers, young carers or have underlying health conditions, will be offered a coronavirus vaccination.

In the document’s introduction, the Scottish Government said: “This is the largest mass vaccination programme we have ever undertaken but its importance to the future of each one of us cannot be underestimated.

“This national programme requires a national effort and that is under way.”

The national programme will have the workforce and infrastructure to vaccinate 400,000 people each week by the end of February.

Vaccinations will take place in care homes, where needed in people’s own homes, through GP surgeries, local clinics, community pharmacies, mobile vaccination units and mass vaccination centres.

Glasgow’s NHS Louisa Jordan, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Pyramids Business Park in Bathgate, Queen Margaret University in Musselburgh, the P&J Live arena in Aberdeen and Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell have been chosen as “mass vaccination settings”, capable of administering in excess of 20,000 vaccinations per week.

The Scottish Government said: “The locations used will be chosen to maximise the number we can vaccinate while making it as accessible and easy as possible for people to come to their appointment.”

Timeline for vaccinations

Priority groups one and two – including care home residents and staff, frontline health and social care staff, and those aged 80 and over – should have their first doses by February 5.
Priority groups three, four and five – including all those aged 65 and over as well as clinically extremely vulnerable individuals – should have their first doses by early March.
Priority groups, six, seven, eight and nine – including all those aged 50 and over as well as individuals aged 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality – should get their first doses by early May after starting in March.

To read the full document, click here.