Question reference: S6W-24525
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 15 January 2024
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Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 January 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to accelerate its COVID-19 winter booster vaccination roll-out, in light of the recent reported spike in COVID-19 cases.
Answer
Case rates are uncertain and vary over time with different social mixing patterns. According to the Winter COVID-19 Infection Study, prevalence of COVID-19 in Scotland showed early signs of decreasing in the two weeks to 3 Jan.
Public Health Scotland continue to gather epidemiological information on seasonal respiratory infection activity in Scotland and publish the latest data in their National respiratory infection and COVID-19 statistics report.
The Scottish Government’s decision-making throughout all COVID-19 vaccination programmes has been guided by the expert clinical advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and at present they are not recommending any additional action this winter.
The winter vaccination programme began in September 2023 and all those eligible were invited forward prior to Christmas. The vast majority of vaccinations were completed before the festive break, but appointments are available until the end of the programme on 31 March 2024. So far, over 1.38 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, equating to 56.8% of the eligible population.
As the majority of the programme is now complete acceleration is not required, with a focus between now and the end of March on encouraging eligible people who to this point have chosen not to receive vaccination to come forward. PHS and the Health Boards have developed additional communications to support this. In addition the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer have been working to encourage uptake within the health and social care workforce, to support winter resilience across health and care services.