Health chiefs in Fife have denied claims GP practices have been forced to cancel Covid-19 vaccine appointments due to a lack of supplies.
NHS Fife has insisted there are no issues with the region’s vaccination programme, despite suggestions to the contrary which have emerged in recent days.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie said he had learned of a number of instances where appointments had been shelved by GP practices because they had “run out” of doses.
However, NHS Fife has taken the somewhat unprecedented step of, unprompted, releasing a statement to try and quell concerns.
“In light of claims that GP practices in Fife have postponed vaccination appointments due to issues around vaccine supply, we would like to reassure local people that there has been no interruption in the supply and our vaccination programme is continuing at pace,” the statement said.
“Vaccine supply into NHS Fife has been in line with nationally agreed levels. There have been no widespread delays in supply to GP practices, and there is no suggestion that we are in any way under-supplied.
“Supplies of the vaccines continue to increase and we are confident of meeting Scottish Government directives on vaccinating the people of Fife.
“Significant progress has been made through our vaccination programme thus far and we are grateful to everyone involved in the local and national programmes, including our partners in General Practice who are currently vaccinating the over 80s population.”
Nevertheless, Mr Rennie said many Fifers are “anxious and increasingly frustrated” about the “sluggish” pace of the vaccination programme.
“Last week the Health Secretary admitted that 200,000 doses were stuck in storage in England,” he said.
“This week we discover that number may have doubled to 400,000.
“Many are distressed that appointments have been cancelled because the GPs have run out of supplies.
“But the government continues to blame the manufacturers instead of sorting its own distribution system.
“Passing the buck won’t vaccinate more people in need. The government needs to sort out this problem before it gets any worse.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon admitted earlier this week that the supply of vaccines coming into Scotland has been “a little bit bumpy” but said the Scottish Government was keen to “get this done absolutely as quickly as we possibly can”.
Chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith also said the vaccines are going out to GP practices as quickly as they are coming in.
