Covid Scotland: What does fully vaccinated mean in Scotland?

In all of her addresses to the Scottish Parliament and the press over the last week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has emphasised the importance of getting vaccinated, whether that’s your first, second, or third dose.

Vaccines reduce the spread of Covid-19 and minimise the symptoms of vaccinated people who do contract it.

In Scotland, being fully vaccinated means that you can end self-isolation after being a close contact with a positive Covid case, so long as you are testing negative and do not have symptoms.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is urging anyone eligible to take up the offer of getting vaccinated, whether it's the first, second, or third dose. Photo: Andrew Milligan - Pool / Getty Images.

Fully vaccinated people also may need to show their vaccine status to gain access to certain large, public events in Scotland.

With there now being first, second, and third doses of vaccines, with potentially more down the line, the definition of what it means to be fully vaccinated may change.

Here’s what fully vaccinated means in Scotland and which doses you need to get in order to qualify.

A patient receives the coronavirus vaccine at the Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow. Photo: Jeff J Mitchell - Pool /Getty Images.

What does fully vaccinated mean in Scotland?

In Scotland, you count as fully vaccinated if you’ve had two doses of any of the following vaccines:

- Oxford/AstraZeneca

- Pfizer BioNTech

- Moderna

- Sinopharm Beijing

- Sinovac

- Covaxin

You should have received those doses in the UK, the EU, or from a country with a UK-approved vaccine programme.

You can find the full list of approved countries here.

Alternative formulations of these vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, also count as approved vaccines.

You can mix two different vaccine types, like AstraZeneca and Moderna, or two different vaccine programmes, like the UK and the US, as well.

If you had the Janssen vaccine, you only need to have had one dose to count as fully vaccinated.

When will being fully vaccinated require a third dose?

With the rollout of the booster jabs, it’s likely that at some point the definition of fully vaccinated will change to require three jabs, as confirmed by both UK Health Secretary Sajid David and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

However, it’s not clear yet when this will happen.

“You will need to show a negative lateral flow test to get into nightclubs and large events, with an exemption for the double vaccinated,” explained Mr David in the House of Commons on December 14th. “Once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab we intend to change this exemption to require a booster dose.”

“We will have to adjust our concept of what constitutes a full vaccination to take account of that, and I think that is increasingly obvious,” said Mr Johnson in a press conference the same week.

As of December 20th, Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that well over half of the adult Scottish population had received their third dose, with 69,135 boosters administered on December 19th alone.

With more and more people getting boosted, it becomes more likely that a third dose will be required to count as fully vaccinated.