Chief Medical Officer to look into young 'healthy' people being offered vaccine

It follows social media reports from apparently young and healthy people who say they've already received their letter.

Those aged 75 and over, residents in care homes as well as anyone over the age of five who is immunosuppressed are among the cohort who will be offered a further booster
Published 19th Feb 2021
Last updated 19th Feb 2021

The Chief Medical Officer is promising to look into why seemingly heathly people in their 20s and 30s are being offered Covid jags in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board.

Some social media reports suggest people are concerned they've received invitations before older generations.

When questioned at the daily briefing Dr Gregor Smith told us he wasn't aware it was happening.

The Chief Medical Officer said: "The way that we would want the vaccination programme to run just now is to make sure that we're prioritising the vaccine to those who will benefit most from it.

"There will be some younger patients that will now be called but generally that's because of their underlying health state.

"If these people don't understand why they've been called for vaccination - then I would certainly want to explore why that's the case."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“We are aware of a small number of younger people reporting that they have received an appointment letter despite them not having any underlying health conditions and we are actively looking at what may have caused this so we can remedy any problem that exists.

“Anyone who feels they have received an appointment in error should phone the national booking helpline on 0800 030 8013.

"We are using a modified version of the flu vaccine list, drawn from information held by health boards, to identify people with underlying conditions for vaccination as part of JCVI group 6.

"Our top priority is to vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as possible, starting with those at the highest clinical risk."

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