Question reference: S5W-30268
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 26 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it is making for the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine should one be developed; what groups it has identified for priority distribution, and how it will ensure that people in island, remote and rural areas will have adequate access to the vaccine.
Answer
Access to a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccination is dependent on success in at least one of over 170 vaccine trials underway worldwide in terms of both development and manufacture. Vaccine availability in Scotland, and considerations about delivery and prioritisation, will depend in part on which vaccine candidates are successful.
While there is no guarantee of success in any of the trials, it is prudent that we plan on the basis of a vaccine becoming available. In Scotland we already deliver nearly 2 million doses of vaccine routinely every year and we have a comprehensive vaccine delivery infrastructure in place which includes delivery in island, remote and rural areas. Under existing vaccination programme arrangements, all islands Health Boards have effective arrangements in place for ordering and receiving centrally procured vaccines from holding centres and can receive deliveries on a weekly basis.
We are currently working on a plan to upscale these existing arrangements in order to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine in the event that a safe and effective vaccine does become available, and this will include careful consideration of the particular needs of Scotland’s island, remote and rural communities .