SCOTLAND’S vaccination programme will need to slow to allow for “stockpiling vaccines” to administer second doses within the 12-week timeframe, the national clinical director has warned.

Professor Jason Leitch also suggested that the divergence in speed of administering the vaccine between Scotland and the rest of the UK will “narrow around supply” and he is hopeful “a large number” of different jags will be available in the autumn, after “the scientific community has nailed this vaccine”.

Professor Leitch appeared before MSPs on Holyrood’s Covid-19 Committee and was asked about the pace of the vaccine in Scotland by Tory MSP Maurice Corry, who claimed that “a GP said to me yesterday ‘we know there are 500,000 vials of vaccine in store somewhere’”.

Professor Leitch said: “I don’t know how the GP knows that, I don’t know there are 500,000 stored in a warehouse somewhere.

“I don’t think that's true.”

Convener of the Covid-19 Committee, Donald Cameron asked about the logistics “when we are both beginning to vaccinate large cohorts of people because we are going down the age ranges” while “people will be coming back for their second dose”.

He added: “Can you reassure the committee that both in terms of supply and logistics, that we are ready to deal with that moment?”

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Professor Leitch said it was an “enormously complex” situation and warned some doses will need to be held back for second doses as the programme progresses.

He added: “It’s complicated further by supply challenges such as Pfizer deciding to temporarily close some of its production line in order to move its production line to greater capacity, which is a great thing, but it means that interrupts supply.

“For now, we need to give Pfizer first dose people Pfizer second dose. There is modelling across the four UK countries for that moment – we need to start stockpiling vaccines so that we are sure we can give second doses. We will prioritise those second doses before we move down through the age groups because we have to.

“We’re not going to suddenly stop and only do second doses. It will mean that we may not be able to run at full capacity, simply because of supply. We will have to hold back until we can get the supply demand exactly right.“

The national clinical director was also asked about a different variety of vaccines becoming available.

He said: “There’s only two vaccines approved for use in the UK presently – Moderna will be next, but Moderna has not made enough vaccine for us to have yet.

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“The trial data for a couple of other vaccines were very good. It would appear that the scientific community has nailed this vaccine for now.

“It takes about three months to make a vial of vaccine...because of the nature of the manufacturing process. The approval bit is going at lightning pace.”

Professor Leitch added that “we may well have a large number of vaccines” by September or October.

He was asked about the divergence in pace between Scotland and the rest of the UK at administering the first dose of the vaccine.

Scotland is the slowest part of the UK in total doses administered to the adult population, compared to England and other UK nations.

He said: “I think they will narrow around supply.

“In the main, everybody will meet those same targets of end of the, end of February – then it gets a little more complex as we are doing first doses as well as second doses.”

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The national clinical director was asked to clarify when the ‘middle of February’ that Nicola Sturgeon has committed to administering the first dose of the jag for those over 70 and in clinically vulnerable people. Those over 80 should have received their first dose by the end of this week.

Pointing to the middle of February commitment, SNP MSP John Mason asked “is it possible to pin down what that means?”

Professor Letich said “there will be a margin with that”, warning that “no group will be 100 per cent for a number of reasons”.

He added: “There will be a margin somewhere within that week in February. I would have thought – be patient until the 19th and then after the 19th there will be a way of contacting someone.”

At her daily coronavirus briefing today, the First Minister said “our date we have used for mid-February is the 15th of February”.

Professor Leitch told MSPs that “if you are over 80 and you haven’t had a vaccine by Friday, you should phone your GP”.

He added: “If you are clinically, extremely vulnerable or over 70 you should wait – there is still two weeks to go.

“You will not have been contacted yet, perhaps. Many have and hundreds of thousands have, but if you are in that group and have not heard yet, you should wait.”