A Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to Renfrewshire’s most vulnerable within days as hundreds flock to get tested at Johnstone Town Hall.
Scotland’s first mass testing centre opened its doors yesterday to a steady stream of residents who want to protect their loved ones from the deadly disease.
Peter Ramsay - who lost two of his best friends when covid ravaged a pre-lockdown event at Erskine Golf Club - was at the front of the line.
The Johnstone granddad said: “On March 13, 43 of us came together for a post captains dinner. Within a fortnight my guest to the dinner had died and the host had died.
“The guy sitting to my right had it, the guy sitting to my left had it... how I didn’t get it I will never know.”
The queue snaked around the Church Street building at lunchtime as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the first vaccines were to be delivered to the most vulnerable in Renfrewshire from Tuesday.
She said confirmation the Pfizer vaccine had been approved for use in the UK was the news Scotland had been waiting for.
“Today does feel like it may well be the beginning of the end of this horrible experience,” she said.
“For all the difficulties that undoubtedly lie ahead, today’s news should give all of us real hope that the end of this pandemic for Scotland is now in sight.”
The good news however came amid heartache for many Renfrewshire families as the region recorded a further 18 covid deaths.
The highest weekly death toll of the second wave of the pandemic, the deaths were recorded in the seven days to November 28.
