More than half of the adult population in Tayside has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.
And NHS Tayside's COVID testing programme has now carried out over 34,000 tests for key workers and their household members.
The Tayside vaccination teams have now delivered more than 200,000 vaccinations to those in the first priority groups.
This includes almost 179,000 first doses - 51 per cent of all adults in Tayside - and 21,400 second doses.
Tayside residents aged 50 to 64 (priority groups seven to nine) are currently being invited for vaccination at a local community vaccination centre, with their invitation letters coming from the national programme in a blue envelope.
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There are more than 50,000 people in these age groups and invitations will be arriving over the coming days and weeks.
Associate director of public health with NHS Tayside Dr Daniel Chandler said: “It is a massive achievement to have reached this milestone of vaccinating more than half of the adult population in Tayside.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in the vaccination programme for their hard work and commitment to get us to this important stage.
“Our vaccination teams are continuing to work through the priority groups and everyone eligible will be offered a vaccination by the middle of April.
“As the pace of the programme continues to increase, there will be some overlap between the different age groups so please don’t worry if you hear about someone younger being invited, you will not have been forgotten.
“It’s really important that as many people as possible get vaccinated to help protect against COVID-19 so please do attend your appointment when you are invited.”
Meanwhile, NHS Tayside’s COVID-19 Testing Team hailed as “exemplar” by the first minister was launched in March 2020 and was the first to be rolled out in Scotland.
The team started testing frontline workers at a drive-through testing centre, including GPs, health and social care partnership staff, community and hospital pharmacists and other hospital workers as well as any symptomatic household contacts.
The service was then expanded to other key workers, including Police Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue and local authority education staff who were supporting key worker children.
The testing programme meant that where a staff member or their household contact were found to be negative, the staff member could return to work, while those testing positive could appropriately self-isolate.
The COVID-19 Testing Team continued to respond to new and emerging testing requirements, including obtaining swabs from residents in care homes and supporting COVID-19 testing for patients prior to hospital admission.
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Activity for the COVID-19 Testing Team peaked on November 17, 2020 when the team obtained 321 swabs, responding to the increased pressure and demands across all parts of the health and social care system.
NHS Tayside associate nurse director Kathryn Brechin said: “If staff testing had not been established, the self-isolation rules would have had a much bigger impact on our workforce.
“We recognised this could be a significant issue so we mobilised a team of nursing, medical, laboratory and support staff to set up the staff testing hub.
“Having a dedicated testing team has enabled Tayside to be responsive to changing COVID-19 testing needs and priorities for our patients, public and staff.
“The success of the hub has been a true collaborative effort, from our estates and support staff who built the hub to the testing team itself, the virology lab processing all the results and the team who are relaying the results to staff and their families.
“It really has been an outstanding team effort.”
