Jason Leitch has said that the UK covid vaccination rollout is "not a competition" and the Government is "trying to do their best" in response to criticism over Scotland's covid vaccine rollout.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland this morning, the National Clinical Director also said that the reason Scotland has vaccinated fewer people is due to "supply, distribution and priority grouping".
And Mr Leitch also admitted that the Scottish Government has carried out the rollout "in slightly different ways" by deciding to use the Pfizer vaccine in care homes, which he says has taken time due to it being "logistically challenging" to administer.
His comments come after opposition parties in Scotland criticised Nicola Sturgeon over Scotland's rate of covid vaccinations - after data showed Scotland’s per capita rate of vaccinations of over-18s stood at 9.4% on Monday, lower than the UK average rate for over-18s of 12.4%, with England near a first-dose vaccination rate of 13%.
Mr Leitch said: "We’ve also got the lowest case rate depending on which table you wish us to use for comparison. The reasons for it are supply, distribution and priority grouping.
"Its not a competition, it's trying to do our best and give the best advice we can in an enormously difficult pandemic to get to the position where all four countries are vaccinated, have the correct testing processes in place, have hospitals which can cope with the cases that are coming in and we are all using that same list.
"We’ve done it in slightly different ways. We’ve as you’ve heard - and it’s not an excuse its just the things we’ve done - we’ve decided to use Pfizer because it’s frozen and you need the freezers and its logistically difficult to get that out to care homes as quick as we could. Its took time because its logistically challenging to do so and now we’ve just about finished those care home residents."
