Chamber and committees

All of our decision making in the approach to responding to Covid-19 is guided by the latest scientific evidence from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) , advice from Health Protection Scotland and our Chief Medical Officer. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provides advice on immunisation to all UK Health Departments, including on the efficacy and safety of vaccines.

Decisions to prioritise one population group over another are not taken lightly, nor are they straightforward. That is why our prioritisation decisions have been, and will continue to be, guided by the independent expert advice from the JCVI.

It is also worth noting that this is the case with many other vaccines. People are not routinely offered a choice of the type of vaccines in other vaccine programmes in Scotland. The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce an option for receiving either Covid-19 vaccine, beyond a clinical recommendation.

Following the statements by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) we want to stress that the evidence shows that, overall, the benefits of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks and it continues to be a safe and effective vaccine.

However, the Scottish Government will follow the JCVI recommendation to offer alternative vaccines to adults under 40 without underlying health conditions.

The JCVI and MHRA continue to monitor this carefully and are in regular contact with other regulators.

JCVI recommendations are set out in the Green Book, available at COVID-19 Greenbook chapter 14a (publishing.service.gov.uk)

GPs may make a recommendation for their patients to receive a specific vaccination if they believe there is a clinical need.

If the JCVI recommend a specific vaccination for any specific group we will of course take up this advice immediately.

The Scottish Government does not hold a breakdown of the requested figures by local authority area. The annual figures are shown in the following table:

If an individual has specific concerns arising from the results of a test they have taken, including related to their immunological response following vaccination, they should consult their primary clinician, who can determine whether further investigation is necessary.

The results of serology (antibody) tests, while indicative, may not be definitive. The value of antibody tests is currently limited to answering the question of whether someone has had COVID-19 before and providing data and a greater understanding on the spread of the virus. An antibody test cannot tell you if you’re immune to COVID-19 or whether you can or cannot spread the virus to other people.

Some individuals may not develop a serologically detectable antibody response to vaccination. Additionally, vaccination does not have an immediate protective effect, but takes up to 3 weeks to produce an antibody response. This is particularly true for elderly, immunocompromised, or infirm people.

In addition to the individual level of protection against severe disease or hospitalisation afforded by vaccination, an additional benefit of the vaccination programme is to assist in developing widespread community immunity and thereby reduce the force of transmission and viral reproduction rate, controlling the prevalence of COVID-19. The inoculation of a large proportion of the population will help to provide a degree of passive protection in the community for those who may develop a weaker immune response, although further research into the impact on transmission is underway. The majority of those inoculated with two doses of vaccine develop a high level of protection.

Further research is being conducted on the effect of the vaccination programme on transmission both in relation to current and new variants of concern. Until we know more, it is essential that everyone continues to follow public health guidance and the COVID-19 protection level rules which apply in their Local Authority area.

The decision to enable cruise restart was based on the upward trajectory in Covid cases, concerns around the more transmissible Delta variant and the potential to transfer Covid (that has a relatively long asymptomatic incubation period) to multiple touchpoints across different locations, even with the use of near-person testing regimens.

By waiting until all of Scotland reaches level 1, risk of viral spread across the country will be lower. If the evidence supports the planned lifting of restrictions at the next review point, domestic cruising will be allowed from 19 July. By this time, more of the population will be fully vaccinated further reducing the risk of viral spread.

All of the evidence is published online and can be found here: COVID-19 in Scotland (data.gov.scot)

Any consultation on mandatory calorie labelling for food and drink purchased out of home would consider all relevant matters.

The Chief Nursing Officer and Scottish Government officials met with representatives from Scottish Care and Erskine Care Homes on 9 June 2021 to discuss the updated extended use of face masks and face covering guidance in hospitals, primary care, wider community care and adult care homes.

The guidance for social care settings was previously contained within the Coronavirus (COVID- 19): guidance on the extended use of face masks and face coverings in hospitals, primary care, wider community care and adult care homes, which was updated on 7 June 2021.

The Scottish Government listened to feedback on the recent update and worked in partnership with representatives of the sector to rapidly review the language and information relating to social care within the guidance. As a result of this review, social care guidance has been separated from hospital and primary care settings and has been updated to ensure it accurately communicates that residents are not required to wear a Fluid Resistant Surgical Mask (FRSM) or face covering within the care home, which is first and foremost their home. It is a resident's choice whether to wear one.

The updated guidance on the use of face masks within social care settings including adult care homes was published on 23 June and is available at the following link

Coronavirus (COVID-19): use of face coverings in social care settings including adult care homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government welcome the Audit Scotland report, and we are pleased that it recognised the swift actions of Scotland’s public sector partners to respond to the significant and unprecedented challenges presented by Covid-19. The Scottish Government agrees with Audit Scotland that we need to learn from this pandemic and bring that learning both into planning for future pandemics, and into our long term procurement strategy. This work is already underway. Officials are working across the public sector including with the NHS to learn the lessons and take them into future PPE procurement.

To address environmental concerns surrounding PPE, the Scottish Government has funded a Small Business Research Initiative £310,000, with Transport Scotland providing additional funding, to assess and evaluate prospective reusable PPE solutions and technologies to assist in decontaminating PPE. This initiative, led by NHS Tayside on behalf of the Scottish Government, supports companies to develop more environmentally-friendly PPE by providing funding to enable them to undertake vital research and development of their prospective solutions.

The Scottish Government has also established a PPE Innovation Working Group with partners across Scotland. The purpose of this Group is to oversee the implementation of positive changes to the provision of clinical PPE in Scotland. As part of this work, the Group will consider potential work streams and opportunities which surround the environmental impact of PPE and how manufacturers with innovative PPE solutions can better collaborate with NHS Scotland in the future.

The guidance to support the provision of the £400 one-off payment to teachers is available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-employers-on-one-off-gbp400-payment-for-teachers/

This exceptional payment is being made in recognition of the additional workload for teachers who have supported the delivery of the Alternative Certification Model (ACM) in the unique circumstances brought about by Covid-19 in 2020/21.

This will be paid through a grant arrangement to education authorities and directly from the Scottish Government through a grant to independent and grant-aided schools, further to claims being received.

The updated guidance regarding the extended use of face masks and coverings in hospitals, primary care, wider community care and adult care homes was published after consultation with numerous stakeholders, including Scottish Social Services Council, Scottish Care, Fair Work in Social Care Group, COSLA and GMB Scotland.

The guidance relating to residents wearing face masks in specific situations in care homes contained in the updated version (Version 3) guidance, published on 7 June 2021, was also contained in Version 2 of the guidance published in October 2020. Scottish Care, COSLA and the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) were given the opportunity to comment on this earlier version of the guidance.

The Scottish Government listened to feedback on the recent update and worked in partnership with representatives from the sector to rapidly review the language and information relating to social care within the guidance. As a result of this review, social care guidance has been separated from hospital and primary care settings and has been updated to ensure it accurately communicates that residents are not required to wear a Fluid Resistant Surgical Mask (FRSM) or face covering within the care home. which is first and foremost their own home. It is a resident's choice whether to wear one.

The updated guidance on the use of face masks within social care settings including adult care homes was published on 23 June and is available at the following link

Coronavirus (COVID-19): use of face coverings in social care settings including adult care homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As with all decisions relating to the relaxation of restrictions, this has been given thorough consideration through the 4 Harms process which has included consideration of the economic harm. Since the beginning of the pandemic we have worked closely with the industry to identify the impact on the sector and mitigations that would be necessary to allow domestic cruise restart. We recognise that the tourism sector, including cruise, has strongly felt the impact of restrictions and our aim has always been to enable cruise restart as quickly and safely as possible.