MORE than 45,000 Scots received a Covid jag on Wednesday, by far the highest number of vaccines dished out in one day yet. 

The First Minister said the uptake rate was beyond what she thought was possible.

READ MORE: Covid in Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon hails drop in case positivity rate

At the Scottish Government’s regular coronavirus briefing, Sturgeon said that as of 8.30am on Thursday, 45,085 people had received their first dose, a 52% rise from the same point last week.

In total, 694,347 people in Scotland have now received the first dose of the vaccine and 9,031 have received a second dose.

The First Minister said: "The uptake rates we're seeing, and I hope this continues as we get into the younger population groups, are way beyond anything I could ever have believed would be possible - way beyond what we see in the flu vaccine programme.

"That's testament to the willingness and the enthusiasm of people to come forward and be vaccinated for their own safety, but also to be part of that collective effort that we need to have to beat this virus."

She said vaccinators were “motoring through” the priority groups.

"If we take the last two days, we are not just vaccinating more compared to last week ourselves, but the vaccination rate in Scotland is about 30% higher in the last couple of days this week so far than in England.

"So that catch-up is there.

"Whether you agree with it or not, all I'm asking people is to understand the way we've gone about this programme and the rationale behind the decisions we've taken."

Fiona McQueen, the chief nursing officer, said the impact of vaccination among care home residents should shortly begin to reduce pressure on the NHS.

Clinical trials show the vaccine produces a good number of coronavirus antibodies around 21 days after the first jab, she said.

She added: "It's early days but we should begin to see that reduction in death, that reduction in severity of disease, in the coming weeks."

Earlier, during an urgent question to UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, the SNP’s vaccines spokesman Neale Hanvey accused the Tories of “attempting to sow fear in the minds of our vulnerable communities that vaccine deployment is too slow.”

He added: “That narrative was completely debunked yesterday, yet the Prime Minister still claimed, ‘we have today passed a milestone of 10 million vaccines in the United Kingdom including almost 90% of those aged 75 and over in England and every eligible person in a care home’.

“However, today on Good Morning Scotland, (Zahawi) was further pressed how many vaccines have been given, not offered, but given to people in care homes in England.

“Even with 24 hours warning and following a detailed probing, he was not able to offer more than a vague 91% of those eligible in an ill-defined subset before settling on ‘a very high number’ and suggesting care home staff’s vaccination may not have yet begun in England.

“Can the minister tell us today what percentage of all care home residents and all care home staff have had their jab in England and if not, why not?”

Zahawi responded: “I don’t recognise (Hanvey’s) description of our collaboration, dare I say. We have, over the past two weeks, been working solidly, the British Army, the armed forces, have been working to deliver 80 vaccination sites in Scotland and hand them over to NHS Scotland within 28 days.

“And that work began a couple of weeks ago so I hope he recognises the effort that the United Kingdom’s putting, not just in supplying the vaccines for Scotland, for Wales, Northern Ireland and for England, but also of the way we’re trying to support the deployment in Scotland.”

It was later confirmed by NHS England that 90.1% of older care home residents in England had been vaccinated 

In Scotland, 98% of older care home residents have now had their first dose.