Covid-19 vaccines to start in Scotland next Tuesday
Nicola Sturgeon says the UK's approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could mark "the beginning of the end of the pandemic"
The first coronavirus vaccines in Scotland will be administered next week.
Scotland's First Minister welcomed the UK becoming the first country in the world to approve the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, saying it may mark the “beginning of the end of the pandemic”.
Nicola Sturgeon also warned delivering the vaccine to more than four million adults across Scotland will be a “massive, massive operation”.
The Scottish Government is working with health boards, councils and the Army on its vaccine plans, with the First Minister saying these are already “well developed”.
Ms Sturgeon said: “This is the biggest logistical peacetime challenge that the country will ever have undertaken.
“The planning is well under way. But there are people in this organisation right now who are full-time working on this to make sure this goes as we need it to.”
The jab has been shown in studies to be 95% effective and works in all age groups.
Ms Sturgeon made the announcement at the Scottish Government's Covid-19 briefing on Wednesday as she confirmed 38 coronavirus deaths and 951 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours.
She said: “The first vaccines against Covid will be administered in Scotland on Tuesday December 8. This is dependent on the first vaccine doses being received in Scotland when expected, she said, but there is “no reason at this stage to doubt that”.
She added: “Today is genuinely a good day. We're not at the end of the pandemic yet ... we cannot and must not ease up in our efforts to control it.
“But today does feel like it may well be the beginning of the end of this horrible experience. For that reason, I am sure I am far from the only one this morning who feels a lightness of heart that I haven't felt for some time.”
Those giving out vaccines will be the first to be inoculated, followed by health and social care staff, people over 80 and residents in care homes.
The First Minister said it is likely to take into the new year for the two required jabs to be given out to the first recipients, as they are expected to be offered 21 to 28 days apart.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with about 10 million doses expected to be available for use in the UK shortly for priority groups, including healthcare workers.
Doses will then be distributed to the different nations of the UK, with the numbers each country will receive linked to their share of the population.
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