Scotland's first care home resident gets covid vaccine

The first care home resident in Scotland to be vaccinated against coronavirus has said it was "wonderful'' to get the jab before Christmas.

Annie Innes, 90, was one of dozens of elderly Scots to be given the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as it was rolled out into care homes.

The former carer, who has been living in Abercorn House Care Home in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, for six months, said she was relieved to have been offered the jab.

She said: "It's wonderful to get the vaccine before Christmas.

"I hope it keeps me, my friends here and the staff safe and means we can get back to normal very soon.

"The nurses and the care home staff have been great with us and we are relieved to have been offered the vaccine.''

She was followed by 82-year-old Margaret Keating, a former bartender who has been living at Abercorn House for just over a year.

NHS Lanarkshire is now planning to vaccinate 2,990 care home residents and 5,601 staff across 93 care homes.

It comes after thousands of NHS staff were given their first doses of the vaccine - which needs two separate injections weeks apart - as a huge nationwide campaign began last week.

At the weekend, the Scottish Government announced a solution has been agreed to enable transportation of the vaccine from storage hubs to care homes.

It must initially be stored at minus 70C before being thawed out but it can now be "packed down'' into smaller batches that can be taken to care homes with "minimal wastage'', as supplies allow.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman thanked all those involved in the vaccination programme.

She said: "It has been a challenge to get the Pfizer vaccine into care homes because of transport and storage requirements but I am delighted to see Mrs Innes become the first care home resident to receive her vaccine and I wish her many more years of good health.

"Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to save lives and keep people safe.

"Vaccines give us a vital additional layer of protection we haven't had until now.

"As more vaccines become available over the coming months we will be able to continue to extend the rollout but initially we are focussing on residents in care homes for older adults and their carers, as we know that older adults in care homes are at the highest risk of severe disease and death from Covid.''

She said people receiving their vaccines this week will get second doses early next year, with 50% of current stock held back for this.

Ms Freeman added: "Of course, we won't rely solely on the vaccine to protect our care home residents and that's why we are also significantly accelerating the delivery of testing kits to all care homes for designated visitors.''

She stressed the importance of continuing to follow guidance on social distancing, hand-washing and wearing face coverings, adding: "We've a few more months to go before the vaccine work has been rolled out fully so meantime we all need to stick together as we have done so we can get through to the lives we all want to live.''

Trudi Marshall, director of nursing at Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire, is managing the rollout of the vaccination programme to care homes in the NHS area.

She said: "This programme represents the biggest logistical challenges Lanarkshire, and the country, has ever faced.''

Ms Marshall praised NHS and care home workers, adding: "We have a detailed vaccination plan in place which we are communicating to care homes.

"While this is a very quick moving and complex operation, we're dedicated to ensuring they are prepared for our visits and resident and staff have consented to receiving the vaccination.

"I'd urge all eligible care home residents and staff to take up the vaccine to protect themselves and others.''

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