Chamber and committees

To save lives it is essential that vaccination be given to the first priority groups as set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), these being residents in a care home for older adults and their carers, people over the age of 80, and frontline health and social care workers.

Prioritisation by sector is not being considered for the following reasons:

• Criticality of service is not an indication for priority vaccination because clinical risk is the overriding concern. This is influenced most greatly by age, not occupation.
• Currently there is no sectoral prioritisation of any workers other than frontline health and social care workers. This is because we don’t know if the vaccine prevents spread, but it does reduce the harm to those most at risk should they catch the virus.
• Individual retail workers will be called forward for vaccination according to their position on the priority list, if they are eligible within the JCVI Cohorts regarding their age and/or underlying medical conditions (e.g. All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality).

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Details for the specific periods covered in your question would be available from individual Health Boards.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. All information on prescribed and dispensed items are published and categorised by the British National Formulary chapter, in both monthly open data files and as part of the annual Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis which was last released on 29 September 2020. Information on prescribing in the community is available on the Public Health Scotland website. This can be accessed at https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/prescriptions-in-the-community .

To save lives it is essential that vaccination be given to the first priority groups as set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), these being residents in a care home for older adults and their carers, people over the age of 80, and frontline health and social care workers.

Prioritisation by sector in not being considered for the following reasons:

• Criticality of service is not an indication for priority vaccination because clinical risk is the overriding concern. This is influenced most greatly by age, not occupation.
• Currently there is no sectoral prioritisation of any workers other than frontline health and social care workers. This is because we don’t know if the vaccine prevents spread, but it does reduce the harm to those most at risk should they catch the virus.
• Individual retail workers will be called forward for vaccination according to their position on the priority list, if they are eligible within the JCVI Cohorts regarding their age and/or underlying medical conditions (e.g. All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality).

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.

Those who are entitled to a vaccine will be contacted by their Health Board letting them know where they will receive the vaccine and how to book their appointment. We are adhering to the priority list devised by the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) who have advised an age-based programme will capture those with clinical risk factors as the risk of death is very strongly linked with age, more so than any other factor. A number of foster carers may fall into the priority risk groups set out by the JCVI; these individuals will receive an invitation to their vaccine appointment.

Those who are entitled to a vaccine will be contacted by their Health Board letting them know where they will receive the vaccine and how to book their appointment.

NHS Scotland is contacting eligible people by phone or letter to arrange COVID vaccination, which is free, and will never ask anyone to share bank details or pay for the vaccine.

The clinical advice is that Individuals with immunosuppression may not make a full immune response to vaccination. As there is no evidence on response in immunosuppressed individuals there is also no evidence upon which to base advice on the optimal timing of delivery. Specialists may advise their patients based on their knowledge and understanding of their immune status and likely immune response to vaccination, but should also consider the risk from COVID-19 and the patient’s likelihood of exposure.

Furthermore, the small number of patients who are about to receive planned immunosuppressive therapy should be considered for vaccination prior to commencing therapy (ideally at least two weeks before), when their immune system is better able to make a response. Where possible, it would also be preferable for the 2-dose schedule to be completed prior to commencing immunosuppression. This would entail offering the second dose at the recommended minimum for that vaccine (three or four weeks from the first dose) to provide maximum benefit that may not be received if the second dose was given during the period of immunosuppression.

Any decision to defer immunosuppressive therapy or to delay possible benefit from vaccination until after therapy should not be taken without due consideration of the risks from COVID19 and from their underlying condition. Although the immune correlates of protection are currently unknown, post-vaccination testing may be considered. Until further information becomes available vaccinated patients with immunosuppression should continue to follow advice to reduce the chance of exposure.

All these policy decisions are made in light of clinical recommendations.

Individuals who are unable to leave their own homes will receive their vaccination at home. All Health Boards have included their housebound patients within their delivery models for each priority group.

The Scottish Government is working with the voluntary and third sector to set up a centralised volunteer coordination hub. This will make good use of the locally offered support, in particular for deployment at mass vaccination clinics, and to help people who need assistance to access local clinics.

We are asking people to attend the appointments they have been allocated if they possibly can. They may not necessarily be given an appointment at the centre closest to them, as the principle objective is to vaccinate as many people as we possibly can as fast as we can. However, if the nature of the person’s condition means that they cannot travel at all, Service Now should pass that call to the local health board call handlers to arrange a more local solution which would be either at their GP Practice or to be vaccinated in their own home if they are housebound. Or individuals can phone the national COVID Vaccination Appointment booking number to book an appointment at a more convenient location: 0800 030 8013.

It is essential that vaccination be given to the first priority groups as set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), and unpaid carers are included.

• Adult unpaid carers aged under 65 and young carers aged 16 and 17 will be offered vaccination at the same time as adults with eligible at-risk health conditions (under JCVI priority group 6).
• Unpaid carers aged 65 and over will be offered the vaccine earlier as they are included in JCVI priority groups 2-5.

We are using the Carer Act definition of unpaid carers which encapsulates JCVI description and goes wider.

The First Minister announced the Scottish Government's Winter Plan for Social Protection on 30 November 2020, comprising a £100 million package of measures to support people and communities over the winter period.

This additional funding has now been made available to local authorities and key third sector partners to deliver the enhanced support outlined within the package, helping many of the most disadvantaged people to cope with winter weather and the economic impact of COVID-19 and Brexit. This is on top of the increased support offered through the Scottish Welfare Fund, Discretionary Housing Payments and the new Self-Isolation Support Grant.

A breakdown of investment can be found on the Scottish Government website, using the following link;

Winter support fund for families and children - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As set out in response to S5W-35173 on 12 February 2021, as part of this package of support, over 144,128 COVID Winter Hardship Payments, worth a total of £14.41 million, have been made for children and young people in receipt of Free School Meals on the basis of low income.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx