Young men are falling behind in Scotland's vaccination roll-out, government figures suggest, further widening the Covid-19 gender gap.
As reported by The Herald, there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases amongst younger men in Scotland in recent days with fans gathering indoors to watch Euro 2020 being blamed for the cause.
But statistics are also revealing a dramatic shortfall in vaccination rates amongst younger Scottish men.
Only 36.9% of men aged 18-29 have had their first vaccination compared to 46.8% of women.
On second vaccinations, the figures are even more stark, with 12.1% of men aged 18-29 having had their second vaccination compared to 21.9% of women – and 17.6% of men aged 30-39 having had their second vaccination compared to 30.8% of women.
In recent days about two thirds of cases among people aged 15 to 44 have been men.
Given the dramatically higher risk of hospitalisation and mortality amongst working age men, The Men’s Health Forum has said today (Thursday) that this needs specific and urgent focus.
They've called for a commitment to take action to close the gap and detailed inequalities analysis to see if particular groups of men are particularly likely to not get vaccinated.
They also want research, communications and targeted outreach and vaccination programmes to tackle complacency, and reduce the barriers to uptake and close the vaccination gap.
READ MORE: Fans gathering for Euro 2020 matches blamed for surge in Covid cases among men
Martin Tod, Chief Executive of the Men’s Health Forum commented: "These figures show that Scotland’s vaccination programme is falling short amongst younger men.
"Given that working-age men are much more likely to die or need hospitalisation from COVID than women, this needs urgent action.
"Not enough has been done to make men of all ages aware of the higher risk they face – now we’re paying the price."
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