The number of people in the Highlands receiving Covid-19 vaccinations is shortly expected to reach 30,000.
The NHS Highland board heard 13,797 people aged over 80 have already received the jab – 74% of the target to be vaccinated by February 6.
Director of public health and policy Dr Tim Allison said the vaccination roll-out to care homes in the area has been completed, other than to three homes which have had outbreaks of the virus.
Covid vaccine in Scotland: Track the rollout progress with these charts
“Overall our performance in vaccination has certainly been encouraging,” he said.
“It varies somewhat across NHS Highland, with some areas able to complete sections of the vaccination quicker than others.
“The latest figures I have are from GPs, who are the focus for vaccinating the community, that they have vaccinated 13,797 people.
“Overall the number of people across NHS Highland vaccinated will be quite soon up to 30,000.”
Vaccine uptake in care homes ‘excellent’
Dr Allison said uptake in care homes has been “excellent”, with 90% of residents and 81% of staff receiving their first dose.
He said the target is to have all people aged 70 and over, plus extremely clinically vulnerable people, vaccinated by mid February.
The aim is to then have those 65 and over receiving the jab by early March and those aged 16-64 with underlying health conditions and unpaid carers by early May.
People aged 50 and over will also receive the vaccine by early May under present targets.
Asked whether care home residents or staff choosing not taking the vaccination could affect other people in the homes, Dr Allison said: “It is not compulsory.
“We also need to recognise the evidence is principally around the protection the vaccine offers to individuals, rather than the risk of not taking up the vaccine.”
He said people are being encouraged to take the vaccine but added: “The caveat is that everyone who is vaccinated still needs to follow other precautions.
“People may think the vaccine can offer them free rein to do whatever they like, but sadly that’s not true. We need to remind people of that.”
60%-70% of NHS Highland frontline staff have received vaccines
Dr Allison said the region had around 10-20 daily Covid cases during autumn and winter, followed by a large upsurge in recent weeks.
Since then numbers have declined, although slowly.
In the week to January 22, the Highlands had 238 cases, compared to 406 the previous week.
NHS Highland chief executive Pam Dudek said completing the roll out to care homes by January 20, ahead of the February 6 target, was “pretty impressive”.
She also praised those involved for completing 13,797 vaccinations among the over 80s, against a target of 18,427 by February 6.
She said 60%-70% of NHS Highland frontline staff had also received vaccines and it is hoped to move shortly to giving jabs to others in lower priority areas.
‘Very good progress being made’
Meanwhile, Highlands and Islands MSP Edward Mountain called on the Scottish Government to urgently distribute supplies of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the remotest parts of the region to ensure over-80s receive their first dose by early February.
Mr Mountain said he heard some GPs received their first batch vaccine for this only this week, making the original target “unachievable”.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said there are challenges getting the vaccine to some remoter parts of the Highland and Islands because of batch sizes.
He said while batches of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are 80 or 100 at a time, a batch of the Pfizer vaccine is closer to 1,000 doses.
But he said “very good progress” is being made by NHS Highland in distribution of the vaccine and is confident targets will be met.
