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Daily Record
Daily Record
World
Neil Pooran & Kirsty Feerick

Scots care home residents will get Covid-19 vaccine for first time today

Care homes in Scotland will get the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for the first time today.

Residents across the country are due to receive their first jab this morning in a bid to save lives.

It comes after more than 5,000 NHS staff and vaccinators received the vaccine, with the rollout starting on December 8.

The Scottish Government announced a solution had been agreed at the weekend which allowed the Pfizer vaccine to be transported from storage hubs to care homes.

The vaccine must initially be stored at minus 70C before being thawed out.

Care homes will get the vaccine to protect vulnerable residents (PA)

It can now be "packed down" into smaller batches which can be taken to care homes with "minimal wastage", as supplies allow.

Ahead of the rollout into care homes, Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith praised the team behind the vaccination programme as "phenomenal", including chief pharmaceutical officer Alison Strath.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said earlier: "This is another important moment in our journey through the coronavirus pandemic and I am delighted that we have received the authorisation we need to enable us to vaccinate the most vulnerable people in our care homes.

"Officials in the government and our health boards, along with Pfizer, and the MHRA, have worked really hard to allow this to happen and it is another step on the road to our collective recovery and a return to a more normal way of life.

"We are providing the vaccine to people in care homes according to the order of priority set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and we will work through that order of priority as quickly as vaccine supply allows."

There are 23 sites around Scotland which will act as vaccination hubs for priority groups.

NHS boards will be required to develop their own vaccination plans in each area of Scotland.

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