TENS of thousands of Scots missing their vaccine appointments in the space of a week has been blamed on a “glitch” with sending out letters.
Nicola Sturgeon has apologised after letters were not delivered in time – leading to around 60,000 people missing their appointment to receive the jag last week.
Scottish Tory Holyrood leader, Ruth Davidson, said it was “worrying to discover” that “one in seven appointments were somehow missed in a single week”.
She added: “Scotland and the rest of the UK are powering ahead with the vaccine rollout, in stark contrast to the difficulties experienced in some other countries.
“For those who received their letters too late it may have caused confusion, dismay and even distress.
“Of course there will be bumps in the road, but I cannot agree with the First Minister’s description of 60,000 missed appointments as 'glitches'. Given the importance of the rollout, it is important to ensure there is no repeat.”
Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that “when we implement a programme of this scale and at this speed”, it was “inevitable, unfortunately, that there will be glitches and things that do not go as well as we want and that is true of the scheduling, printing and posting of letters associated with the programme”.
So far more than 2.2 million Scots, almost half the country’s adult population, have received their first dose of the vaccine.
Ms Sturgeon insisted that the vaccination programme was still “progressing extremely well”.
The First Minister said the Scottish Government was “aware of issues with the delivery of appointment letters in the early part of last week”.
Work is being done with Royal Mail and others to “understand all of the detail of that,” she added.
But Ms Sturgeon stressed: “I have been given an assurance that the issue has been resolved.
“I want to apologise to anybody affected. There were around 60,000 appointments that were not attended.
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“We are closely monitoring day-to-day uptake versus projections and trying to make sure we understand the reasons why people might not be attending for appointments.
“Undoubtedly last week that would have been partly down to the issue with letters, but there will also be other issues.”
Work to rebook appointments is already underway, the First Minister said, pledging this would be done “as quickly as possible”.
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