SCOTLAND has made “successful progress” in vaccinating the country’s adult population against Covid-19, the public spending watchdog has said, as it estimated the programme has cost £223 million.
In a report published yesterday Audit Scotland found by September 17, more than 90% of people aged 18 or over had received at least one jag. and 85.7% had received their second dose.
However, it highlighted a lower rate of vaccination among younger adults as well as lower income and BAME groups.
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Some 76% of 18 to 29 year olds had received the first vaccine dose compared with 100% of those aged 60 plus.
At August 24, 2021, 75.2% of those living in Scotland’s poorest areas had received a vaccine, compared with 87% in the wealthiest.
On the same day, 88.2% of Scots from white ethnic backgrounds had received the first jag, compared to 65.9% from those from other ethnic groups. The African and Caribbean or Black ethnic groups had low levels of uptake, at 66.4% and 66.5% respectively.
Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland (above), said: “The delivery of the vaccination programme has been a success so far, with good collaboration and new digital tools developed to help the process. Early scenario planning by the Scottish Government and NHS boards has allowed them to continue to react quickly to formal UK clinical advice.
“There is now an opportunity for the Scottish Government to use what’s it’s learned to manage the challenges of the next part of the vaccine programme, and the wider delivery of NHS services.”
The Audit Scotland report also found that levels of vaccine wastage have been low, and the programme has helped reduce the number of people getting severely ill and dying.
However, it raised concerns that the programme’s roll-out has relied on a temporary staff drawn from across the NHS.
It said such a programme “is an expensive model and the Scottish Government recognises that it needs a longer-term solution”.
Ministers have said that a permanent, sustainable workforce will be required in future, and work is underway to determine its size.
The report said NHS boards and health and social care partnerships currently expect vaccine delivery costs to be around £223 million in 2021/22.
But it added: “The final cost for this year will depend on clinical advice issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, so it could differ substantially from the current estimate.”
The report set out further key figures including how many doses had been administered and how the vaccine had cut the number of patients needing hospital treatment.
- By September 21, 2021, 7,979,142 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had been administered in Scotland.
- By July 2021, more than 14,000 vaccinators had administered vaccines. Vaccinators include nurses, GPs, dentists, optometrists, pharmacists.
- Between September 4 and 10, 2021, the rate of Covid-19 cases was 1146 per 100,000 unvaccinated people, compared with 477 per 100,000 fully vaccinated people
- The rate of hospitalisations for people aged 60 plus was 77 per 100,000 unvaccinated people, compared with 29 per 100,000 fully vaccinated people
- The rate of hospitalisations for people aged between 16 and 59 years was 24 per 100,000 unvaccinated people compared with eight per 100,000 fully vaccinated people.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane – commenting after his party voted in Holyrood against vaccine passports – said: “The vaccination scheme has been an incredible success across Scotland and the United Kingdom.
“However, there can be no room for complacency from the SNP. It is clear many aspects of their vaccination strategy are not working right now.
“They are failing to reach young people and many people in our BAME and deprived communities.”
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