A local MSP has said the vaccination process in Edinburgh should be "ramped up" after figures showed just 3.85 per cent of people in the capital had been vaccinated against coronavirus.
17,165 people in the city have been vaccinated, according to Public Health Scotland data, which covers 3.85 per cent of the population.
But this is the lowest percentage cover in Scotland, behind neighbouring areas Midlothian where 5.84 per cent of people have been vaccinated, or East Lothian where the figure is 4.67 per cent.
In West Lothian, 6,121 vaccinations have taken place, around 4.15 per cent of the areas population.
Lothian MSP Miles Briggs said the figures were concerning.
He told Edinburgh Live: “It is concerning that Edinburgh is lagging behind in the number of people who have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccinations."
But he added: “Edinburgh has a higher number of care home residents, who take longer to vaccinate, than other local authorities, which may have slowed down the process.
“What is important now is that the level of Covid-19 vaccinations in Edinburgh and the Lothian’s is ramped up to get everyone in the community vaccinated as soon as possible.”
| Local authority | Number of people vaccinated | Percentage cover |
| City of Edinburgh | 17,165 | 3.85% |
| Midlothian | 4,352 | 5.84% |
| East Lothian | 4,083 | 4.67% |
| West Lothian | 6,121 | 4.15% |
| Fife | 15,108 | 4.89% |
It comes Nicola Sturgeon defended the vaccination programme after Scottish Conservative MSP Ruth Davidson said hundreds of thousands of doses available to the Scottish Government had "gone unused for weeks".
Ms Davidson said that while Scotland had already received 717,000 doses, "more than 400,000 have yet to reach patients".
The First Minister insisted the vaccination programme was "not lagging behind in Scotland".
She said the Scottish Government had "very deliberately" focused first on elderly residents in care homes, in a bid to reduce deaths - with more than 90% of this group now having received their first dose of the vaccine.
The First Minister added: "The reason why the overall numbers therefore are lower at this stage, because of that focus on care homes, is because it takes longer and is more labour intensive to vaccinate in care homes than it is in the community."
But she said vaccinations amongst those aged over 80 are "picking up", and the target of giving all those in this age group their first dose should be met by the first week in February.
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Ms Davidson said Health Secretary Jeane Freeman had previously committed to giving everyone in this group their first injection by the end of January, and asked Ms Sturgeon: "Why are we already falling behind?"
Ms Sturgeon initially said there had not been any change in the target, though she said later that it had been refined.
