More military to support vaccine roll-out in Scotland
81 additional personnel are being deployed
Last updated 3rd Feb 2021
Armed Forces personnel are to start administering the Covid vaccine in Scotland.
The Ministry of Defence has confirmed an additional 81 staff will be deployed from tomorrow in a bid to support the roll-out.
57 of those personnel, made up of medics and management, will form a “quick reaction force” able to deploy across Scotland at short notice.
UK Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi said:
“Our armed forces are playing an invaluable role in helping ensure those most at risk get their jabs, working side by side with healthcare staff in a truly UK-wide effort.”
Up to 24 logistic support staff, mostly from Edinburgh-based 3rd Battalion The Rifles, will also assist the running of vaccination centres in Grampian, Dumfries and Galloway, Borders and Lothian.
It follows a political row about the speed of the vaccination programme in Scotland.
At First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon insisted things were “working well” despite criticism and claims of people facing a postcode lottery:
“It’s going well because of the efforts of people across the country but it’s also going well because of the willingness of the public to come forward in such huge numbers to be vaccinated and I am very grateful to them for that.”
On the pace of the roll-out, Scottish Tory Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson asked the First Minister if she would accept the UK Government’s offer of military support, describing the programme in Scotland as “slow, stuttering and lagging behind the rest of the UK.”
In response, the First Minister said:
“Any help that the Armed Forces give to Scotland…it’s not a favour from the Secretary of State for Scotland, it’s our Armed Forces that the people of Scotland pay for through their taxes.”
The latest published figures show 649,262 people in Scotland have now received their first dose of the vaccine, which is an increase of 38,484 in the past 24 hours.
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