The Telegraph
Nicola Sturgeon is facing mounting anger over Scotland's slow vaccine roll-out after it emerged her government has more than 400,000 unused doses and England's deployment was almost twice as fast last weekend. The First Minister on Monday disclosed that 264,991 people north of the Border have been given their first dose but The Telegraph understands her government has now been handed more than 700,000 doses from the UK's supplies. A daily average of 13,383 Scots were vaccinated with their first dose between Friday and Sunday, but this represented a drop on the average of around 16,000 recorded in previous days. A yawning gap started to open up with England, where 750,892 people were vaccinated for the first time over the same period, meaning its roll-out was almost twice as fast taking into account its larger population size. Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, said more than four million people had now received their first dose across the UK and vaccinations were happening at more than double the rate per person of anywhere else in Europe. More than five million people in England aged 70 and over, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable, will begin receiving offers of a coronavirus vaccine this week in areas where the majority of over-80s have already been treated. Ms Sturgeon insisted this group in Scotland would receive appointments "later in January", despite GP leaders complaining that "patchy" supply of the vaccine means they cannot book in many of their patients aged over 80. Dr Gregor Smith, Scotland's chief medical officer, said vaccine was "going out to those GP practices as fast as it's coming into Scotland" and that supply would ramp up over the coming weeks.
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