Scotland behind UK in 40-49 year old Covid jabs amid ‘missing appointment letters’ – The Sun

SCOTLAND has jabbed fewer 40 to 49 year olds than anywhere else in Britain — amid fears over missing appointment letters.

Just 67.1 per cent here have had their first Covid shot compared to 72.9 per cent in England and 78.9 per cent in Wales, latest stats show

But concerns have been raised that some crucial vaccine invitations haven’t arrived.

One 44-year-old man in Glasgow who didn’t get a jag time slot said: “I started to get worried so I phoned and got told my appointment was the following day.

“I was told there have been problems getting the letters out and lots of people haven’t been getting to appointments. Hopefully it’s sorted soon.”

Another man in his 40s claimed the helpline told him his address was wrong in NHS systems following an apparent data entry error. His appointment was in seven days’ time.

New Public Health Scotland data on jab rates can be revealed a month after Scotland hit the milestone of vaccinating all over-50s and the clinically vulnerable.

And it’s emerged Glasgow — in the grip of a case surge — has one of the lowest inoculation rates in the country, with 56.1 per cent of adults jabbed at least once compared to the Scottish rate of 67.9 per cent.

The southside outbreak, thought to be linked to the Indian variant and centred in the G41 and G42 postcodes, led Nicola Sturgeon to keep the city, along with Moray, in Level 3 lockdown as most of mainland Scotland drops to tier two today.

A testing blitz and accelerated jag programme for youngsters aims to control the spread.

But Professor Adam Finn, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, warned that prioritising jabs in “hotspots” may “do more harm than good”.

He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge that moving vaccine areas and shifting between priority groups could disrupt the “protection of the population”, adding: “You end up chasing the virus and always arriving too late.”