In fact: NHS England under extreme pressure, says NHS chief

Doctors’ executives say the ‘uneven supply’ of vaccines to GPs across Scotland is hampering the speed of delivery to patients.

Ministers have pledged a first dose of the vaccine to 1.4 million of the most vulnerable Scots by mid-February.

But the British Medical Association in Scotland says inconsistencies in supply make it difficult to schedule patient appointments – and some GP surgeries have yet to receive a vaccine.

Dr Andrew Buist, who chairs the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners’ Committee in Scotland, says that so far “good progress” has been made in giving it to priority groups such as nursing home residents. and frontline health workers.

But he told the BBC’s Politics Scotland program: ‘The current problem lies with the next priority group, which is the 80+ age group, which GPs in Scotland are preparing to vaccinate because of the vaccine has so far been quite inconsistent.

“Some practices have a good supply, others do not so far.”

He says his practice has received 100 doses of the vaccine for 600 patients over the age of 80, all of whom are due to be vaccinated by February 5.

“We don’t want to send patients an appointment until we know we can permanently vaccinate them, otherwise the patients are very upset.”

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has pledged the manpower and infrastructure will be in place to immunize 400,000 people each week by the end of February.

Meanwhile, no new Covid-related deaths were reported in Scotland today and, although 1,341 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported, it is the lowest daily figure since December 28.

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