Vaccination effort a ‘heroic achievement’ says FM

A “heroic achivement” has been reached in getting people vaccinated despite “dreadful” weather.

That is the view of the First Minister who highlighted vaccination figures that offer “a ray of sunshine”.

Nicola Sturgeon said 1,048,747 people in Scotland had received their first dose.

By Sunday the SNP administration expects to have given the first dose to 75,000 more people than was originally anticipated.

Last week NHS Shetland announced a new phone number – 01595 743319 – for anyone struggling to make vaccine appointments due to the conditions.

Ms Sturgeon warned the Scottish government had received marginally lower stocks of the vaccine than expected, due to a drop in Pfizer’s manufacturing capacity.

The number of appointments scheduled over the coming weeks is expected to drop.

Ms Sturgeon also highlighted improvements to the Protect Scotland app, which now enables people to download certificates to help secure support.

And changes have also been made to ensure older mobile phones can use the app.