Boris Johnson offers Scots assistance for struggling Covid jab rollout

‘The offer remains open … were they to decide that was necessary’: Boris Johnson offers assistance to Scotland for its struggling Covid jab rollout, amid fears Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘mess up’ will leave England in lockdown longer

Boris Johnson offered Nicola Sturgeon help with Scotland’s sluggish vaccine rollout today amid claims it could slow the journey out of lockdown for other parts of the UK.

Mr Johnson became the latest UK politician to offer Government help to speed up the process north of the border. The Army is already at work in Scotland helping to administer the vaccine.

Ms Sturgeon has been under pressure to improve the vaccination programme after it hit a record low on Sunday, before rebounding on Monday. 

Mr Johnson visited vaccination sites in Scotland last Thursday amid a campaign to bolster support for the Union in independence-minded Scotland.

And his offer of aid came at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons today as the nationalists sought to attack him for the trip to Glasgow.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford branded it an ‘irresponsible PR stunt’ amid claims that there was a Covid outbreak at one site before the PM visited.

But that prompted  a furious response from the Prime Minister, who told him: ‘I had a fantastic time and nobody raised that issue with me before or since.

‘It is my job to visit every part of this country, nothing and no-one is going to stop me and I am very very proud of the record of the government in rolling out the vaccine.

‘The offer remains open to the [SNP], were that to help the rollout of the vaccine …  to do more were they to decide that was necessary.

Mr Johnson became the latest UK politician to offer Government help as well as that of the Army – which is already working in Scotland – to speed up the process north of the border.

Ms Sturgeon has been under pressure to improve the vaccination programme after it hit a record low on Sunday, before rebounding on Monday.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford branded Mr Johnson’s visit to Glasgow an ‘irresponsible PR stunt’ amid claims that there was a Covid outbreak at one site before the PM visited.

Nicola Sturgeon was accused of threatening the UK’s long-term escape from lockdown today.

She told MSPs the number of vaccinations given yesterday was the highest daily total so far, and was 59 per cent higher than the number of jabs given last Tuesday.

She went on to say 98 per cent of older people living in care homes had had their first injection as well as 87 per cent of those aged over 80 who are living in the community.

But only just over a quarter (28 per cent) of those aged between 75 and 79 and also now had the initial dose.

In comparison more than half of those in their 70s have received a jab in England so far.

Tory MP Karl McCartney said there was a ‘danger’ the slow rollout in Scotland could undermine the effectiveness of the wider UK effort.

‘It is symptomatic of many mess ups by the SNP and Sturgeon. Education and the NHS in Scotland immediately spring to mind,’ he said.

‘The Empress, as she sees herself, has long ”had no clothes”.’

Scotland has recorded 88 deaths of coronavirus patients and 978 new cases in the past 24 hours, Ms Sturgeon announced today.

The death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 6,269.

Speaking at the Scottish Government coronavirus briefing, the First Minister said the daily test positivity rate is 5.1 per cent, down from 7.4 per cent on Wednesday when 758 new cases were recorded.

There are 1,871 people in hospital confirmed to have Covid-19, down 63 in 24 hours.

Of these, the number of patients in intensive care was 128, down 12.

She said a 649,262 people have been given a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, up 38,484 from the previous day.

Michael Gove made a similar pitch to Mr Johnson this morning. He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: ‘We want to make sure that that vaccine is available to citizens across the UK’

Michael Gove made a similar pitch to Mr Johnson this morning. He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: ‘We want to make sure that that vaccine is available to citizens across the UK, and Jason Leitch was saying yesterday that the vaccine roll-out in Scotland had perhaps not been as quick as it might have been.’

‘I’m not critical of anyone – I’m just stressing that it’s important that we all work together.’

Scotland’s top medic Professor Leitch yesterday said that Scotland’s slow vaccine rollout had been hindered by GPs whose surgeries are closed on Sundays. 

The national clinical director said ‘Sundays are a little bit tricky’ and that the vaccination team has been asked to ‘have a look at that’. 

On Sunday, just 9,628 vaccinations were completed in Scotland, out of a UK-wide total of 322,000. But that figure rose to more than 35,000 on Monday.

Prof Leitch added that the reason for the drop on Sunday was because of where the jabs are being administered, with most being delivered in GP practices which ‘didn’t all work (on) Sunday’.

‘We decided to do the over-80s in their own practices, where they would know their nurses, where they would know their GPs, where they would be close to home,’ he said.

The situation is believed to be different in England where, under an agreement between the British Medical Association and NHS England ‘practices will need to be prepared to offer vaccinations seven days a week so that the vaccine is delivered within its short shelf-life and so patients receive it as soon as possible’.    

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