EVERY Scottish city will soon have its own dedicated mass-immunisation centre, as part of a Scottish Government plan to distribute vaccinations against Covid, according to reports. 

These centres will be supported by “pop-ups” opening up in spaces including GP surgeries, and roving teams who’ll administer the vaccine to the housebound, the shielding and those in care homes.

The Sunday Times reports that ministers are ready to distribute at least one million vaccinations from next month, with the operators of sites identified as being suitable for conversion into mass-immunisation centres being placed on alert.

The priority would be to get adults older than 50, front-line healthcare and social care workers, and adults with underlying medical conditions inoculated first. 

Any approved vaccine is expected to require two doses, and may require booster shots to maintain ongoing protection.

Last week, the director at the University of Oxford vaccine trials told MPs he hopes to present late-stage trial results this year.

Andrew Pollard, who’s the lead investigator at the Oxford/AstraZeneca,said he was “optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year.”

“Our bit - we are getting closer to but we are not there yet,” Pollard, he said.

Asked if he expected the vaccine would start to be deployed before Christmas, he said: “There is a small chance of that being possible but I just don’t know.”

Work began on the Oxford vaccine in January. It's made from a weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.

The chimpanzee cold virus has been genetically changed to include the genetic sequence of the so-called spike protein which the coronavirus uses to gain entry to human cells.

The hope is that the human body will then attack the novel coronavirus if it sees it again.

Asked what success looked like, Pollard said: “I think good is having vaccines that have significant efficacy - so whether, I mean, that is 50, 60, 70, 80%, whatever the figure is — is an enormous achievement.

“It means from a health system point of view, there are fewer people with COVID going into hospital, that people who develop cancer can have their operations of chemotherapy — its a complete game changer and a success if we meet those efficacy endpoints.”

Speaking at a Holyrood committee the next day First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged caution. 

She warned that it was still too early to say “exactly when a vaccine will be available” or what the “exact nature of the vaccine” will be.

Tory MSP Maurice Corry asked her at the Holyrood Covid-19 committee if the Scottish Government was securing allocation of any future vaccines, saying: "Are you getting your oar in there?"

The First Minister responded: "Very much so. We procure vaccines, flu vaccines and Covid vaccines, through a UK four-nation process.

"These discussions are well advanced about the allocation of that.

"We have plans in place overseen by a programme board about how we will start to roll out a Covid vaccination programme."

She added: "There are clearly big uncertainties in that right now - we don't know when a vaccine will be available and we don't know yet the exact nature of the vaccine that will be available.

"So, will it be a vaccine that is prioritised firstly on elderly people, how many doses will be required?

"But the planning for that, insofar as it is possible with all of these uncertainties, is well advanced in Scotland and the discussions UK-wide are well advanced, too."

Gregor Smith, the interim chief medical officer said he was "optimistic" about the prospects for a vaccine, saying the UK has invested significantly in two projects that are entering phase three trials.

He said: "We continue to track exactly how those are going but certainly we're optimistic that they are offering very encouraging signs that vaccines will become available to us."

Conversations are being held with local vaccine co-ordinators to ensure those who would benefit most will get any vaccine first, he said.