Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nearly half of north-east over-80s given first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Vaccinations are well under way in Stonehaven
Vaccinations are well under way in Stonehaven

Nearly half of all over-80s in the north-east have received the first dose of their Covid-19 vaccine – with the rest on track to get theirs by the beginning of February.

The vaccination programme in Grampian has been stepped up in recent weeks and nearly 38,000 people have had the first of their two jabs so far.

Health chiefs say “excellent progress” has been made with the rollout, with the vast majority of care home residents also having received their first doses.

The over-80s, another of the first groups to get their jabs, are being vaccinated at sites across the area.

Nearly half of over-80s have had their first dose

So far, more than 40% of the group have had the first round of their inoculation – and the rest of over-80s who are able to get to vaccination sites will be seen by February 5.

For those who require vaccinators to come to their home, visits will take place up to the end of next month.

A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: “Excellent progress is being made with the over 80-year-old cohort with ambulant individuals being, in the main, vaccinated by their General Practice.

“To date, just over 40% of Grampian residents over 80 have been vaccinated. Plans are in place to complete the vaccination of ambulatory patients by February 5.

“For patients yet to receive a letter of invitation they will be arriving very soon.

“Housebound patients in this cohort are being vaccinated at home by local district nursing teams with help from additional vaccinators.

“They will receive a letter advising that the local vaccinator team will be in touch to arrange their vaccination.

“The vast majority will be completed by February 5 but with continued vaccination at home carrying on until February 22 for those who are housebound.”

For those who have not yet received their letters, or whose GP practices are not taking part in the vaccination programme, letters will be sent out from NHS Grampian informing them of the time and date of their appointments.

Yesterday, the health board revealed Ellon, Stonehaven, Fraserburgh and Macduff are among the towns in Aberdeenshire that will have a mass vaccination centre in operation from next week, while sites in Moray include Keith, Buckie, Dufftown and Elgin.

Meanwhile, health bosses have revealed all care home residents have now been offered a vaccine, with more than 90% accepting.

Additionally, there has also been a 75% uptake among home staff who fall into the older age categories – and the health board has launched a bid to get more signed up.

Care home staff are being offered the vaccine

The spokeswoman added: “NHS Grampian and the Health and Social Care Partnerships have now offered a first vaccination to all older people care home residents with an uptake in excess of 90% based on estimated bed numbers for residents.

“Older people care home staff have been offered the opportunity for vaccination since early December at Health and Social Care Partnership clinics.

“Once we began vaccinating older people care home residents in their care homes, care staff could also opt to have their vaccination there.

“The 75% uptake amongst older people care home staff is a strong start and we continue to encourage this group of staff to take up the ongoing offer of vaccination.

“In terms of timescales this remains an issue of uptake rather than provision and we will of course continue to offer this group of staff the opportunity to be vaccinated.”

At yesterday’s daily briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced £500,000 of practical support would be offered to NHS staff.

The money will be available to health and social care workers to give them a boost while working long shifts, for items such as free tea and biscuits.

She said: “I don’t think we’ll ever be able to repay those on the front line of health and social care for everything they have done and everything they have suffered over the duration of this pandemic.

“But in every way we can, it’s important to support them and to show our gratitude.”