Nicola Sturgeon says she has 'nothing but contempt' for dishonest anti-vaxxers

Ms Sturgeon was speaking at Holyrood after SNP MSP Kenny Gibson attacked the “increasingly hysterical” tone and “ludicrous” accusations of anti-vaxxers.

He asked if Ms Sturgeon could say how many lives had been saved by the vaccination programme that such people were denouncing.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It may not be possible to put a number on lives saved because of vaccination, but there’s no doubt in my mind that that number will be significant.

“Vaccines are stopping people becoming seriously ill and undoubtedly stopping people dying. That is beyond any argument or any doubt.

“I would say to people who are genuinely worried about vaccination, perhaps because they are reading some of the misinformation that some choose to circulate, Please think about it.

“Go to a clinic, speak to a vaccinator, raise your concerns, have those concerns addressed, and then please get vaccinated. 

“These vaccines are safe and they are incredibly effective in terms of saving lives and preventing illness. 

“It is the single most important thing any of us can do to protect ourselves and others.

“To those who knowingly spread misinformation about vaccines, I have nothing but contempt for anybody in that category.

“People who do that are not only putting themselves at risk, but they’re putting others and the country as whole at risk, and I hope anybody in that category will think long and hard about the great disservice they are doing everybody across Scotland.”

Earlier, Ms Sturgeon updated parliament on the latest Covid figures, and said there were a series of positive signs about the slowing down of the disease.

She announced there had been 2,870 new cases overnight and 18 deaths, with 1107 people in hospital (up 19 on the previous day) and 94 in intensive care (down three).

The test positivity rate was 11.7 per cent, up from 10.8% the previous day.

Ms Sturgeon said she was increasingly confident the disease was abating.

She said: “The early signs I spoke about last week have become much firmer in the last 7 days. In the week to 28 August new cases increased by more than 80%.

“In the week after that, the rate of increase slowed to 11%.

“And last week, I was able to report that cases had fallen by 12% over the previous 7 days.

“In the most recent week, up to 18 September, new cases have fallen further - by 31%.

“This is, of course, a very encouraging trend.

“In addition, and in contrast to previous weeks, the fall in cases is spread across all ages - with declines of more than 10% in every age group.

“One interesting point is that the steepest fall in cases has been in the 20 to 24 age group. Cases in that age group have fallen by around three quarters in the past thre weeks.

It’s always hard to clearly identify cause and effect for changes like that – and multiple factors may have made a difference.

“But it is worth noting that a significant proportion of people in this age group received their second dose of the vaccine during August and early September. 

“It is likely that we are now seeing the positive impact of this.

“In any event, I am very grateful to everyone – organisations, businesses and individuals – who has taken extra care in recent weeks to try to halt and then reverse the spike in cases.”

However she also warned against complacency, given high numbers of hospitalisations.

She said: “The NHS is already under considerable pressure. On 20 August, there were 312 people in hospital with Covid. Today, there are 1,107. The number of people in intensive care has also increased, from 34 on 20 August to 94 today.

“As we know, fluctuations in the number of people in hospital tend to lag behind – by around two weeks – any rise or fall in the number of new cases.

“So we would hope that the recent fall in cases will, over the next couple of weeks, ease the pressure that Covid is placing on the NHS.”

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