By Bill Heaney
Scottish Labour has expressed alarm as the roll-out of the vaccination programme in Scotland slows.
The latest daily figures show that the rolling weekly vaccination rate plummeted by a more than third during June, resulting in more than 130,000 fewer people per week getting a vaccine dose.
This comes as cases reached a record high surpassing 4,000 cases in a single day, prompting fears of an increase in hospitalisations, deaths and other health complications.
Vaccination rates are particularly low in Scotland’s Covid hotspots. The three Health Boards with the highest rates of Covid – NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – are also the three with the lowest vaccination coverage.
The Scottish Government’s reliance on the appointment system has caused widespread problems, with thousands of letters being sent to incorrect addresses.
In England the use of walk-in clinics open to all adults has helped boost vaccine coverage particularly among young people. However, so far in Scotland only NHS Lothian have any, despite the vaccine being available to younger demographics for months now.
Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie, pictured left, has criticised the Scottish Government for being too slow to set these up at scale, and called for their roll-out to be a priority.
Scottish Labour’s Health and Covid Recovery spokesperson said: ““We are seeing more and more proof of the SNP’s botched handling of the current wave of the pandemic.
“At the very time we need to be ramping up vaccination, it is beginning to stall.
“The vaccine, along with test and protect, is our ticket back to normality – but on both counts the SNP have dropped the ball.
“With cases climbing by the day, we need to be vaccinating as quickly as supplies allow.
“The SNP have been dragging their feet for too long on walk-in vaccination centres. Setting up walk-in clinics for all adults all over the country needs to be a top priority.”
Aye the vaccine programme is stalling whilst the rate of infection climbs with Scotland having the highest infection rates in Europe by an order of magnitude and then some.
Jeepers Scotland has nearly five times the per capita infection rate of England and England has pretty poor figures.
Sturgeon has been an utter disgrace. From the initial decisions to discharge infected patients into care homes to slaughter the elderly to the now highest infection rates in Europe, one can now see Sturgeon for exactly what she is.
But it’s not just COVID she’s failed on. Her new focus is allegedly that if fixing the economy and like COVID she ain’t doing a good job on that. With material shortages in everything from plasterboard to cement to silicon chips industries are being hit badly with production stoppages. There are also huge labour shortages due in part to her failure to stop Brexit but also due to our not being able to educate and train enough people.
And therein lies one of Sturgeon’s other huge failures. Education and training. We just don5 cut it and all the spin about education and training is just that – spin.
And lastly, this is for those of a certain age. Inflation is now taking off. What joy then for folks with state and private pensions as inflation shreds their income and savings too.
Yes, well done Nicola. At least you’ve got a huge focus on Trans Rights and the proverbial chicks with dicks and the fabulous Hate Crime Bill.
Suck it up folks some would sadly say – both votes SNP.
Harsh and maybe not entirely fair to the wee yin, but then she, like everyone else in this damaged democracy has the right of reply in this digital news platform, as have her overworked spin doctors.