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The Herald today has:
Mortality rates from Covid plunged among care home residents following the rollout of vaccinations, according to the first study to compare outbreaks across the initial three waves of the pandemic in Scotland.
Academics from Glasgow and Edinburgh universities analysed data on infections and deaths recorded in care homes from March 2020 to October 2021.
Ironically, in the middle of the report they have a link to:
Jeane Freeman ‘I will always regret care home Covid deaths.
Why ironic?
Vaccines were rolled out in Scottish care homes from mid December 2020, crucial weeks ahead of English care homes, due to the perceived logistical problems, reported in GP Online, on 3rd December 2020:
Scottish health minister Jeane Freeman told the Scottish Parliament on 3 December that the ‘particular logistical challenges’ around the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine – which must be stored at -70oC and comes in in 975-dose packs containing 195 five-dose vials that must be diluted before use – mean that delivering it to patients in care homes would be difficult.
But she told MSPs: ‘Over lunchtime today following detailed discussions led by our chief pharmaceutical officer, we now have confirmation on the basis of the stability data that the Pfizer vaccine can be transported in an unfrozen state for up to 12 hours and can be stored undiluted for up to five days.
‘I am also pleased to confirm that under certain conditions we can pack down to smaller pack sizes, both of which makes this vaccine more usable with minimum wastage for care home residents and for older citizens. So in effect we can take the vaccine to them or close to them and we will begin that exercise from 14 December.‘
https://www.gponline.com/care-home-vaccination-begin-scottish-minister-says-pfizer-vaccine-packs-split/article/1701851
In the same article we read:
Ms Freeman’s comments come a day after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) confirmed that residents and staff at care homes for older people were top of its priority list for vaccination against COVID-19.
The Welsh government has said that due to practical constraints around the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine it ‘cannot deliver this vaccine to care homes’. In England, the government has not ruled out delivering the vaccine to patients in care homes – but has announced that vaccination will begin next week in around 50 ‘hospital hubs’, with deployment through ‘local community services, including GPs’ to follow.
A government statement on deployment of the vaccine said: ‘Delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is complex as it needs to be stored at very cold temperatures and moved carefully, so at first we will only be able to deliver it from “hospital hubs.” Defrosting the vaccine takes a few hours and then additional time is required to prepare the vaccine for administering.’
Asked today by GPonline for an update on plans for England following the Scottish health minister’s announcement, the DHSC referred back to the following line from a statement on 2 December: ‘As the JCVI has made clear, there will need to be flexibility in terms of operational challenges around delivery of the vaccine to those in care homes. In line with the advice, every effort will be made to supply vaccine and offer vaccinations to care home residents and we will deliver the vaccine according to clinical prioritisation and operational necessity.’
The BMA has said it does not expect designated GP practices across England – which are expected to deliver the bulk of COVID-19 vaccination for care home residents and in older age groups – to begin vaccinating patients ‘for at least two weeks’.
As the virus surged through care homes accelerated by the presence of itinerant agency staff in the larger privately-owned homes, the English and Welsh health secretaries went for the ‘low-hanging fruit’, vaccinating those easiest to access in larger venues and trumpeting their higher overall levels compared to Scotland. Thousands died but in Scotland, thanks to the actions of the Health Secretary, thousands were saved.
How many?
Even by March 2021:
The appalling costs of the the UK Government’s decision not to vaccinate all care home residents as a first priority, as advised by the experts at the JCCVI, continue to be felt.
In the last 7 days, 252 deaths were recorded by NHS England in care homes. With a tenth of the population, Scotland might have expected to have 25 but in fact had only 11.
This news has been available to Scotland’s MSM for six weeks now but missed.
Overall?
Thousands:
Other sources:
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Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
And to think they had the audacity to accuse the Scottish Government of politicising the Covid response when all they wanted was to get ahead of Scotland in the vaccination roll out. Utterly shameful.
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Personal care means more elderly can stay in their own home. Less people are in care homes. Better and less cost. Covid showed how much people care about the elderly and protecting them.
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O/T apologies
The BBC website headline in a article re Lindsay Hoyle and the SNP states:
“Lindsay Hoyle rejects SNP request for emergency Gaza debate“
Sky news website headline in their article on the same subject state:
“Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle retracts offer to SNP for emergency ceasefire debate“
“Rejects” or “Retracts”…who to believe….as ‘words’ matter…..could this be yet another addition for their BBC page ‘Clarifications & Corrections” ?….to add to their growing list of ‘mistakes’ that skews the facts and reality of a political story ……
NMRN
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Well spotted. Words have meaning and we have a range of words for similar things because we require nuance.
The BBC use of the word ‘reject’ implies that the Speaker was using his power to put the upstart impudent Jocks in their place.
Sky’s use of ‘retract’ indicates that the Speaker had offered a second debate but had then changed his mind and withdrew the offer. This implies, possibly, that he had made an offer which he did not have the authority to make, which seems implausible because the note from the Clerk last week cautioning him against changing the rules after Labour’s approach to him, indicated that he can in fact make rules to suit circumstance rather than just follow conventional practice. This suggests there was another reason or reasons for the retraction. Ought we not know what tat reason or reasons are?
Alasdair Macdonald.
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Oops I just also noticed that the BBC headline also states this was a “SNP request” (to Speaker) where as the SKY News reports it as “retracts offer” (From the Speaker)….
NMRN
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