Covid Scotland: 600,000 Scots not fully vaccinated as passport scheme launched

Some 600,000 Scots are not fully vaccinated, figures from Public Health Scotland (PHS) have revealed, as Scotland’s vaccine passport scheme is launched.

Under the scheme, which goes live today, but will not be enforced for another two weeks, those over 18 will be required to show proof of two vaccine doses for entry to nightclubs and large live events.

But figures show that as of Wednesday, 601,389 adults in Scotland had not reached this status.

This includes more than 350,000 people who have received a first dose of vaccine, but not a second.

Nurse Marvis Birungi (left) gives a vaccine injection to Oxford Brookes University student Eleanor Seddon in a pop-up Vaccination clinic at the University's Headington Campus in Oxford. Unvaccinated university students have been urged to get a Covid jab in freshers' week to protect themselves and their peers against the virus. Picture date: Friday September 17, 2021.

Uptake is lowest is the 18 to 29 age group, with 36 per cent not fully vaccinated.

This is followed by people in their 30s, of whom just under three quarters have received two doses.

Glasgow city is the council area with the least vaccine coverage. Some 23 per cent have not yet had two doses.

This is followed by Aberdeen, where the figure is 22 per cent, and then both Edinburgh city and Dundee, where it is 21 per cent.

Fife is the area with the next lowest coverage, as 14 per cent of adults have not had both vaccine doses.

Data from PHS has repeatedly shown those in deprived communities, as well as minority ethnic groups, are more likely to have lower vaccine take-up.

A PHS report published in July showed while first dose coverage was at 69 per cent in white people aged 18 to 29, it was just 46 per cent in those of African, Caribbean or black ethnicity, and 54 per cent in Asian ethnic groups.

In an update to MSPs on Thursday, health secretary Humza Yousaf asked young people who had not yet come forward for a second vaccine dose to do so, urging them not to leave the job “half done”.

In response to a question about improving vaccine take-up among minority communities, Mr Yousaf said the Scottish Government was “doing what it can” by working with third sector organisations, faith leaders and ethnic minority groups.

The Covid vaccine passport scheme will begin on Friday and be enforced from October 18.

It will apply to nightclubs, unseated indoor events with more than 500 people, and unseated outdoor events with more than 4,000 people.

Any event hosting more than 10,000 people will also be included.

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