Question reference: S6W-03139
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 28 September 2021
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether essential workers who are (a) unwilling and (b) unable to have a COVID-19 vaccine should instead be allowed to undertake regular (i) lateral flow and (ii) PCR tests to enable them to work.
Answer
The Scottish Government encourages essential workers, along with the wider adult population and secondary school-aged pupils, to participate in regular asymptomatic testing irrespective of their vaccination status.
The Scottish Government’s asymptomatic workplace testing programmes provide free test kits to a wide range of public, private and third-sector businesses and organisations. Different testing regimens are employed as appropriate to the setting. Most workplaces offering regular asymptomatic testing use twice-weekly testing with lateral flow devices. Weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is offered to specific cohorts of staff, including Scottish Prison Service staff and health and social care staff working with clinically vulnerable patients.