Light at the end of the tunnel

The vaccine, produced by Pfizer /BioNTech, is said to be 95% effective and will work for all age groups, although there will be a structured roll-out, first of all catering for the elderly in care homes and their carers.

As the vaccine requires two doses, three weeks apart, those vaccinated will not be protected from the virus until the new year.

Speaking at her daily briefing yesterday, Mrs Sturgeon said: “If we receive the first doses of the vaccine as soon as we are expecting to, and there is no reason at this stage to doubt that, I can confirm to you that the first vaccines against covid will be administered in Scotland on Tuesday, December 8.”

She added: “It is without a shadow of a doubt the best news we have heard since this pandemic started.”

However, the logistics of administering the vaccine won’t be straight-forward, as it has to be kept at temperatures below minus 70oC.

Added to that, NHS Borders is still in the structured process of administering the winter flu jab.

The news of the vaccine’s imminent availability has been welcomed by the local authority, however.

The work to administer the vaccine is being co-ordinated locally by a dedicated Covid-19 vaccination group and it is anticipated that the first vaccination appointments will be offered to NHS Borders staff who provide direct patient care, from Tuesday.

In the meantime, plans will be developed in order that people most at risk will be offered the vaccine as soon as possible.

Speaking about the programme, Nicky Berry, director of nursing and operations, said; “Today’s news is really exciting and means that if all goes to plan, next week we will start vaccinating the first of 15,000 people who will be eligible to receive the Covid vaccine in wave one, which is focused on health and social care workers, care home workers, older adults who are resident in a care home and those aged 80 and over.

“Each person will receive two doses, given 21-28 days apart.

“This means that over 30,000 vaccination appointments will be required; the co-ordination of which is a huge undertaking.

“We therefore ask that the public remain patient.

“Our staff have and will continue to work incredibly hard to ensure that everyone has to opportunity to be vaccinated as soon as possible, in line with the national delivery programme.

“We will provide more information about future waves, including details on the locations at which the vaccination clinics will take place in due course, as this information becomes available.”

The news comes as the Borders remains in tier two of the Scottish Government’s multi-tier system, with new cases appearing to begin to fall in the region.

Over the past week, there has been 38 positive cases of Covid-19 recorded in the Borders, significantly lower than last week’s week-on-week increase of 68 new cases.

There are now 12 patients being cared for in the Borders General Hospital with either a confirmed positive case of Covid-19 or who are suspected to have the virus, two less than last week.

In the outbreak at Dovecot Court, the extra care housing development in Peebles, there are now 16 tenants and 12 members of staff who have tested positive – a rise of three tenants and one member of staff from last week.

Jen Holland, chief operating officer of SB Cares, said: “We have robust contingency plans in place to ensure our ongoing service provision to clients in Dovecot Court is maintained throughout this ongoing incident and that we can continue to safely support all tenants.”