A RECORD-BREAKING number of Scots have been given a coronavirus jag in the past 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.
Some 34,881 received their first vaccine, the latest Scottish Government figures revealed. It means a total of 610,778 Scots have had their first dose.
It comes after new mass vaccination centres were opened in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
READ MORE: Another 69 people die in Scotland after contracting Covid-19
The First Minister came under fire from Ruth Davidson in the Scottish Parliament after it emerged only 9628 people had the jab in Scotland on Sunday, compared with about 290,000 across the UK as a whole.
Sturgeon explained: “Vaccinating the most vulnerable to the greatest extent possible is really important, even if it takes more time to do so. It will help to save more lives.
“All of that said, though, it is clearly the case that overall volumes matter too – and that leads to my second point.
“As we make more use of mass vaccination centres for the younger age groups, we expect the daily rate to also increase."
She added: "The figure reported today, for example, shows just under 35,000 first dose vaccinations were done yesterday – reflecting the opening of new centres. That is our highest daily number so far – and 55% higher than last Monday.
"So having achieved greater depth in the programme so far, in the form of high actual uptake in priority groups, our challenge now is to accelerate on breadth, in the form of numbers overall. And that is what we will be doing."
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon says Covid lockdown will remain unchanged until end of February
The upswing in vaccine numbers follows the launch on mass vaccine sites in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
The facilities at Aberdeen’s P&J Live venue and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) will be able to inoculate an extra 27,000 people per week.
IN FULL: Nicola Sturgeon's statement to MSPs about extending Covid lockdown
The NHS Louisa Jordan in Glasgow has also been vaccinating between 1000 and 5000 per day since early December and has the capacity to go to 10,000 per day.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel