Scottish government to reveal vaccine supply data following row with Westminster

The Scottish government is to publish weekly data on coronavirus vaccine supplies north of the border following crisis talks with UK ministers and jab providers.

Boris Johnson’s government had previously pleaded with Scottish ministers not to publish any of the data due to security concerns.

However, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said her administration had held discussions with ministers in London – as well as officials from other devolved governments and vaccine firms – to resolve the row.

“As a result, the Scottish government is publishing information today about the supplies we’ve received so far and from next week onwards will publish this data initially on a weekly basis,” said Ms Sturgeon at her Covid-19 briefing on Thursday.

Ms Sturgeon has faced claims her government has lagged behind the rest of the UK during the vaccine rollout, with the Scottish Tories accusing her of presiding over a “slow and stuttering” programme.

Earlier this week Ms Sturgeon told the Holyrood parliament that jab manufacturer Pfizer had “re-phased” its delivery schedule, which meant there would slightly less vaccine supply than expected over the next few weeks.

The new weekly data will be released on a Tuesday, and will give information on all the vaccinations available in Scotland going back until the previous Sunday.

The first minister said she hoped the data would be “helpful to the media and to the public”, adding: “It will give a fuller picture of the supplies we are receiving each week and will then allow for a better understanding and indeed closer scrutiny of the progress of the vaccination programme.”

Ms Sturgeon also said on Thursday that almost 1,355,000 Scots had now received their first dose of the vaccine – an increase of almost 35,000 from the previous day.

A total of 69 per cent of 65- to 69-year-olds have been given a first dose. Ms Sturgeon said this meant Scotland was “firmly on course to have offered a first dose to everyone in that age group by early March”.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross had accused the first minister of “misleading the public” and insisted a key target had been missed.

Mr Ross said on Wednesday that Ms Sturgeon had been “caught spinning the stats” after she said the target of vaccinating all over-70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable had been achieved.

Ms Sturgeon said she was satisfied that “everyone in these groups has been offered the vaccine”.

The latest figures shared on Wednesday showed that only 80 per cent of the clinically extremely vulnerable on the shielding list have had their first jab. The Scottish government said 90 per cent of those aged 70 to 74 had been given first doses.