Scots have been warned the vaccine rollout will slow down over the next couple of weeks as supplies of the jab drop.
Health secretary Jeane Freeman said Scotland should hit its target of vaccinating 400,000 adults a week ahead of schedule this week - but added the programme will then “need to scale back a bit”.
A drop in supply across all four UK nations is being caused by work being carried out by Pfizer – the manufacturer of one of the approved vaccines.
The company is having to temporarily reduce output as part of an overall effort to increase manufacturing capacity amid worldwide demand for vaccines.
Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday that in the “second part of February”, it is expected vaccine supplies will “slightly dip for a period”.
That came after she said a “whopping” total of 61,299 vaccinations were given on Monday – the highest daily figure in Scotland to date.
Freeman told BBC Radio Scotland: "This is about the supply into the UK, it is not about distribution around the UK. So it will affect all four nations of the UK.
“That will reduce our expected supply next week and the week after by about somewhere between 120,000 and 190,000 doses a week overall over the two vaccines.
“And what that means then is we need to scale back on the pace we have reached this week – we will reach over 400,000 doses this week, which is a couple of weeks earlier than we said we would. But we will need to scale back a bit.
“We are working that through and then of course supplies start coming in again.”
She stressed the Scottish Government is “still confident” it will meet targets set for vaccinating all those aged over 70 by Monday, as well as the goal of vaccinating those aged 65 and above by early March.
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “There is currently no issue with vaccine manufacture or supply and we are still confident that the steady, regular supply of doses will continue to support the vaccine rollout right across the UK in the weeks ahead.
"As Pfizer have said, the overall projected supply for the UK remains unchanged for January to March 2021.”
