The Army is being drafted in to help with Scotland’s vaccination roll-out this week.

More than 60 members of the armed forces will be deployed to NHS Lothian and NHS Lanarkshire as part of ‘Operation Rescript’ for up to five weeks.

It is part of the UK Government’s response to ‘variants of concern’ spreading throughout the country.

It is hoped that the additional support could help scale up the number of vaccines being administered in the areas.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, said: "The armed forces continue to show their incredible versatility and flexibility, deploying wherever and whenever they are needed in support of this national vaccination effort.

"I am delighted to see that across all corners of the UK, military personnel are working side by side with their NHS counterparts to help get the British public vaccinated as quickly as possible."

Around 3.3 million people aged 18 or over in Scotland have had their first dose of the vaccine – with more than 2.2 million receiving their second.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said: “So far the vaccine - particularly two doses of the vaccine - are successful for the variants we have, but eventually one will probably get away from us and we'll have to adjust the vaccines over time.

"What we're trying to do is win the race now, get the incidence down around the world, not just in Scotland, and then the vaccine scientists can work on a new vaccine for us as they monitor the virus around the world."

Public health officials are pushing to accelerate the vaccine roll-out to protect against the Delta variant – originally found in India – which is spreading rapidly across the UK.

UK Government Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "We have vaccinated over three-quarters of UK adults with a first dose and half of adults with a second dose.

"That is a huge effort across the healthcare system and beyond - and I am incredibly grateful for the amazing role our armed forces have played in this.

"We know how effective the vaccine is, thousands of lives have been saved and thousands of hospitalisations prevented."